What's Your Story?

        This weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the Handmade & Bound Book Festival. This festival was a book nerd’s dream. There were self-published authors like myself. People selling zines, which are mini books that often have hand drawn illustrations. Other vendors sold handmade paper and other scrap-booking supplies. The Nashville Origami Club also had a table. Basically, if the activity involved paper, pen, and self-sufficient creativity, there was representation at Handmade & Bound.

My table was located across from Blue Marigold Press, a company that creates handmade books. That’s right. Handmade books. I watched in amazement as a middle-aged man with ear length, brunette hair and librarian eyeglasses sewed linen pages together with needle and thread. He meticulously separated bunches of sewn pages with a tool I can only describe as a flat, plastic handle of sorts. At another point, he fed silk ribbon through slits in the sewn bunches. It was so fascinating that I found myself often distracted from my own potential customers because I wanted to watch the birth of a book.  

The vendor on my right was Thistle Farms, an organization for women with a history of violence, addiction, and/or prostitution. Thistle Farms gives these women a second chance at life by allowing them to create and sell soaps, perfumes, skin creams, candles, and paper products. The women also receive housing, medical and dental treatment, therapy, and educational training for no cost for two years in the Magdalene Program. The Magdalene Program at Thistle Farms was named for the biblical character whose life changed after she had an encounter with her Creator. Mary Magdalene was a known prostitute, but Jesus changed her story.

As the festival came to a close, I thought about the old adage “Never judge a book by its cover.” I contemplated the tables that surrounded me. To my left, I noticed how lovingly the man from Blue Marigold Press operated. Each stitch, pull, and tug meant something that would have an effect on the end product. His love and dedication reminded me of how God must see each human as He creates us. God is the faithful creator lovingly crafting each book, each person, to be a work of art.  To my right, wonderful women who had the courage to change their stories. Life may have left lasting effects on their covers, but God has allowed them to change the text of what would be.

As humans, we have little control over our covers, but we can change the story at any time. God has made us fearfully and wonderfully, but we can make the story of our lives tragic, romantic, or inspirational. The pen is in our own hands.  So what’s your story?

Make Lemonade

We have all heard the addage that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. This is meant to to be both inspirational and sobering. Sometimes, life sucks. Get over it. But, the practice of making lemonade is easier said than done. Your  tire blows out on your way to work, lemon. While waiting for the tow truck, you catch up on some reading, lemonade. Smaller lemons are easier to deal with than bigger lemons like, say, cancer. 

In October of last year, I found out that my best friend of twelve years was diagnosed with breast cancer. Major lemon. Huge, huge lemon. Quite hard to swallow. First there was the heart-rending diagnosis, then the ravaging chemotherapy, followed by the traumatic surgery, and then more ravaging by radiation. Finally, she is cancer free, but the fight is far from over. 

This past Tuesday, I had the pleasure of watching my best friend rip the runway at the Heroes in Heels Fashion Show in Cool Springs Mall in Franklin, Tennessee. Heroes in Heels is a fashion show that raises awareness and funds for the After Breast Cancer Program through the Middle Tennessee YMCA. I was so proud of my friend for not only surviving breast cancer, but continually making the best out each round of bad news she received.  She, like the other women who strutted down that runway, are master lemonade makers. They inspire me. 

When life gives you lemons, no matter the size, use the following recipe:

1. Cut each lemon in half. God is bigger than all of your problems, especially, if you dissect them into smaller parts. 

2. Squeeze your lemons. Remember, you cannot control everything that happens, but you can control your reaction. Show those lemons who's boss!

3. Add water. Embrace the love and support of your family and friends. Let their kind words water your heart. 

4. Sweeten to taste. God will never put more on you than you can bear. This test will only make you stronger and more dependent on Him. 

5. Serve. Once you have passed your test, share your story with others. You never know who you may inspire.