Dear 2013

Dear 2013,

You have been quite the year. Even in the midst of a really trying and painful month, I can look back and see so many beautiful memories. I learned how to paint. I started my own jewelry shop and actually have found a bit of success in it! I minimized my closet and began the process of minimizing various things in my life. I learned how to sew. I moved into an apartment with my best friend. I made new friends. I saw friends fall in love. I saw my sister go off to school in California and my brother start high school. I saw God's grace and continuously saw it everyday. I learned what it meant to be present in moment and love it. I started doing yoga. I fell in love. I realized it wasn't my own, but it was given to live in and be embraced by and recognize the Lord's faithfulness through every step. I took a risk I can't and won't regret despite the heartbreak. And even in the midst of a hard end of the year, I see the Lord ever more present. I still feel His peace and believe in His peace and the great comfort of it. Wherever the Lord leads me in 2014 will be just as amazing. It will be filled with heartbreak and joy, but either way I will grow closer and closer to the one who has always been present. 

A good friend told me the other day she is claiming 2014 to be a year "from ashes to beauty." I think she was right. Beauty and restoration are near. 

Happy New Years,

Mariel 

Processing.

I've been deciding for the last week the best way for me to approach what I've been processing. Now do not assume I know everything I am saying, these are simply the minimal thoughts of a long journey.

Love is a risk. Love is patient and kind. Love is selfless. Love is not ours. Love is never in vain.

That's all I have right now.

Jeremiah 31.

31 “At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

2 Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
3     the Lord appeared to him[a] from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
    O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
    and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
5 Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.
6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
    in the hill country of Ephraim:
‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”

7 For thus says the Lord:
“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    ‘O Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country
    and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
    the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
    a great company, they shall return here.
9 With weeping they shall come,
    and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them walk by brooks of water,
    in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for I am a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
    and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
    and they shall languish no more.
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”

15 Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    because they are no more.”

16 Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
    and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
18 I have heard Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
19 For after I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
    Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
    I do remember him still.
Therefore my heart[b] yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.

21 “Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway,
    the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.
22 How long will you waver,
    O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encircles a man.”

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes:

“‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness,
    O holy hill!’

24 And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

27 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm,so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know theLord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. ForI will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun for light by day
    and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name:
36 “If this fixed order departs
    from before me, declares the Lord,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
    from being a nation before me forever.”

37 Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
    and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
    for all that they have done,
declares the Lord.”

³⁸ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lordfrom the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Seasons.

We are all walking through some season of life right now. Some seasons are beautiful and just overflowing with rich goodness and a bountiful harvest. Other seasons may be droughts that leave us longing and searching. Seasons come and go, but the God of all the universe is still relevant in each one. In my western art history class we had been talking about pilgrimage churches, specially, Santiago de Compostela. In in this beautiful cathedral, you walk up the steps to this massive entrance with glorious reliefs of beautiful imagery. There are three portals that you walk under. The portal to the left is on the Old Testament and the portal to the right are images from the gospel in the New Testament, but in the center, the largest portal of all, there is an image of Christ. This middle portal is a representation of Christ's kingdom in the book of Revelation, but what we realize is that this single portal is much larger and in the center of the Old and New Testament because Christ's kingdom has never changed and has always been in the center. Throughout all of history He has always reigned. 
Despite the season you are in or I am in, to simply know that He is still reigning throughout all of history couldn't be anything, but one of the most beautiful and comforting realities. There are really hard seasons of life where we have to "Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly." (1 Cor. 13:13) It is good for us to go through these times. I admire the people around me that walk so faithfully, wrestling God for what truth He is bringing to them in that season. 

Seasons will change, but our faithful God won't.


Here's an image of the portals at Santiago de Compostela. See Christ at the center?? He never will leave that position.

Emmanuel

So I've been doing a pretty awful job at posting. The last several weeks have been a little crazy finishing up the semester!

Despite everything going on, it's such a precious reminder to know that Emmanuel, God is with us.

Life in the Desert.

"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him." 

-Exodus 23:20-21

The Israelites were given freedom. The Lord removed them from a life of slavery and condemnation and led them into the desert to be given a choice to follow Him and His angel in a promised land or to worship other gods and live a life of idolatry and suffering. His covenant with Israel was strong and promising, but the Israelites were frustrated.

Why so many years in a desolate land wandering and waiting for the land promised to them'?
Was there no promise at the end of this road?
Was the blessing not even within grasp?
Why listen to and follow something so unknown?

With lost faith and earthly needs, the Israelites turned and looked towards idols in order to take control back into their hands instead of God's. If they saw an issue within their life, they created a god to "fix" it. They saw their strength being far more superior than the God who brought them out of Egypt.

Is this not us?

As a college student I learning much more each day that the future is so unknown. Where am I going to be two years from now? What will I be doing? What issues will happening in my life then that I should account for now? What can I do today to affect my tomorrow? I'm realizing there's nothing. Nothing, but be present today. You see, I like control. I like knowing what tomorrow or next week will look like. I like to use my own strength and abilities to assure me that I am in control. The Israelites wanted control. They wanted to know that even though they are wandering in the desert that they could create their own perfect, sustainable life now. They wanted all the blessing and all promise right now. Since God wasn't giving it to them now, why not do it themselves? So they used other gods and idols to create control where they felt its absence and no longer a sustainable promise.

I try to use my strength to make my own promises for my future. If I can control my day and life why do I need a God to make these distant promises?

Because my own strength fails.

When we surrender our control and all our preconceived ideas of what our promise should look like, there is nothing left but God. By moving the Israelites from Egypt into a desolate land, God wanted to show them that by trusting in Him, His strength would sustain them. If He could take care of them even in the most severe environments, then He would always be enough. In our most uncertain and scary moments, God wants to show us He can always be trusted and will guide us back into His promise. I create my own strongholds to clutter my life with little idols for this and that, when it could be so simple to just drop my control and let Him lead me.  My strength and need for control is excessive and unnecessary because God has a far greater promise and life ahead of me than I could ever create for myself.

"So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of Egyptians and to bring them up out o that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing of milk and honey." -Exodus 3:8

Essential over the Excessive.

Many people believe that being a minimalist means removing everything from your closet and living with only a hand full of things. While this potentially could be true (very much an extreme though) this is not the only way that minimalism can be practiced. What if minimalism was applied to time? What if by cramming our schedules with minute by minute activities we are losing rest and quality in time?
Time is precious and I am finding more and more how precious it really is. By slimming down our schedules and deciding what is essential over what is excessive we can invest more of ourselves into each thing we do whether that is our homework, our relationships and friendships, our jobs, or creativity. Spending time choosing what matters and removing what is just too much can allow you to find more time in your day to rest, to sit down and have a cup a tea with a friend, or enjoy a book. When we cram so much into our schedules we feel as if we are achieving some kind of honor for having the longest to do list, but is really everything on that list being done with the greatest effort? I want to make sure that each day I am choosing to be all present in each thing I do. When I sit down and read my Bible I want to be all there and investing all the time needed in the Word. I want to sit down a with a friend and not be concerned about crossing things off a to do list, but to be totally focused on investing in them. Time is not ours. We are blessed with time to share and enjoy. I want to give my fullest into each thing I choose to spend my time doing.

Enjoy your time!

A Road to Minimalism

Every summer my family travels to De Soto, Wisconsin. We simply enjoy life on the river, relaxing, fishing, and boating. Not a single care to have. Life is easy there. It’s peaceful. I walk out my door to nothing, but a vast and mighty river that can be as still and gentle as a tender touch. Its beautiful here. God’s glory is definitely revealed in this simple life. Key word simple. We stay in a small fishing cabin with only the essentials we need for our 10 day trip. Clothes, suits, food, water, some good books, and a camera. There is no cell service here and very little wifi. We are relatively very disconnected from the world. It’s a new world here. But its a simple world. There is no clutter or worries. I tend to wear the same things everyday. I spend a significant amount of time in close quarters with my family. I have obvious and much needed time with God. One day during this week this past summer I sat on the dock and read through Lamentations. I’ve never actually sat down and read through Lamentations honestly. Truthfully I’ve only heard the good parts about God being faithful, which is the most hopeful part and extremely encouraging, but these verses are only found in one of the five chapters. There is a lot more “hard stuff” that runs through these pages. Basically to sum it up, Jerusalem messed up. Big time. Time after time they screwed up and finally they fell flat on their face and God was over it. He warned them what sin would do to them, but they didn’t listen. Lamentations confronts that regret and deep wound in their hearts and their now suffering for their convictions. They are words of lament. It’s a hard book to sit and read. You really begin to feel the weight of their sin and the conviction in your own life.

"Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness, she herself groans and turns away. Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her." 

-Lamentations 1:8-9

I can tell you right now, I have felt like Jerusalem. I have make choices everyday that impact my life both indirectly and directly. I felt so brutally connected to Jerusalem reading through her heartache and cries because that is me. That’s me once or twice or a hundred times a day. I’ll admit it. It causes my “heart to grow faint.” (Lamentations 1:22) But how great is the great love of Christ that grace can cover a multitude of sins? Now in my life, I’m on the journey of understanding grace. It’s tricky for me to allow myself to receive, but it’s good and I need it. Lamentations though hits that path hard. I'm sure this will be a continuous beautiful battle I will encounter I will have.  

"O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life." 

-Lamentations 3:58

He meets me in my woes and regrets and listens to my pleas and forgives. The grief and affliction will come, but they are not forever. For great compassion will follow. Grace meets us right there. Right in the midst of hurt, regret and lament. Grace doesn’t mean you will not still have heartache and pain, but that you have a future and light that is greater than the darkness you’re in now. There is a great hope we can have amidst troubles.  

As I’ve been writing this you may wonder how it relates to minimalism, but I do believe this to be a stepping stone in my heart to wanting to be a minimalist. In the simplicity of life of that time on the river, I developed a deeper and greater understanding and yearning of Christ. I hear my God far louder and clearer when I’m immersed in simplicity. Living without the distractions of everything else reminds me of the great need for time alone with God. Allowing myself to live in the silence and stillness I have the most refreshing and nourishing drink to quench a tired and faint heart. Alongside of all this, I have been reading Living with Less by Joshua Becker. The entire book is a journey of the biblical connections of life as a minimalist. As I venture through the book, I am finding the great calling to minimalism has on people. It may not be for everyone, but it is a life to be considered  if you are noticing the distractions the world has in your walk with Christ. My own convictions of comparison and material obsession has led me to thoughts that maybe instead of wanting more things, I could want more Christ eliminating the unnecessary. Just as Jerusalem became so consumed in their sin, I believe we all have the capability to do so as well.

"With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children." 

-Lamentations 4:10

Surprise! I bet you didn't expect that verse. Though this is a great extreme…it reminds me though that even good people are capable of doing really awful things. Good people fail. I fail. I believe we are called to do whatever takes to follow after Christ. So maybe for me that means clearing up my schedule by eliminating some of things that distract me. This minimalist lifestyle is very different for me and honestly a little scary, but I believe it is a healthy lifestyle Christ encourages us to live. So as I clear out my closet and drawers I will yearn to follow Christ with my time and energy more humbly and intentionally. 

Simply,

MDH

 Here's our little cabin we rent! 

Just a little family pic (:

Sabbath

There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:9-11

Week after week I am finding the great need and importance for rest and how easy it is for rest to be lost in the daily hustle of life. Rest is good. It's okay to step back and breathe. God called us to rest. He gave us 6 days of work and one day to just rest. That day is intentional and necessary. Find a little rest in your everyday. Walk to class and enjoy it. Walk with prayer and gratefulness. Invest in someone and be invested in. Be creative. That's my challenge every week for myself. I want to create 2 things every week that are not for a class or project, but are for my rest. Find your rest and take it. 

Enjoy Sabbath. 

Who’s the artist we talked about today........Pistachio!

For the past 3 weeks I have been teaching third graders in an after school art program. We have talked about everything from Picasso and Cubism to symmetry and pattern. This week was all about Michelangelo. Being very hesitant over this artist due to the fact that pretty much all his images of people are in the nude, I wasn’t sure how kids would respond. So I did my best and made sure pictures were slightly blurry and taken from far away...far away. The last thing I need is foe kids to go home to their parents scarred with the image of Adam totally exposed. Yikes. I think my blurry and distant pictures did the job just fine. Anyways...part of the project was to create a story as a class. We pieced this story together with students wanting to include fire breathing dragons, elephants stealing peanuts, and princesses falling in love. It was quite a story. After the story was together I had the kids draw the story as if they were drawing it on the ceiling aka under tables. For the first few minutes I got a lot of “this hurts my neck,” or “this is so hard!” Then after a couple of minutes of finding their groove I think they started to really enjoy it!  By the end one girl shouted, “I can’t believe Michelangelo did his on a huge ceiling!” They totally got the idea. Accomplished. I wanted them to try something new and to be challenged. To care less about the end product and more about the process of learning. Always an important discipline to practice and encourage. 

At the end of class as we went through a quick review of what we learned. I found out that Michelangelo could also be called pistachio and he painted in the Sixteen Chapel instead the Sistine Chapel. 

I give it to them. They’re adorable. 

1441 Collection

Here's an awesome artist to check out! Not only is she my best friend, but also a creative and beautiful soul that has inspired and challenged me throughout our friendship.

Check out some of Danielle's beautiful jewelry!

http://1441collection.tumblr.com/

Blessings,

MDH

Like Jewelry?

Go check out MarielDayleJewelry on etsy! 

Enjoy (:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MarielDayleJewelry?ref=si_shop

Amoeba Tag

So Dani and I do this little thing called Basics Jr. It's a bible study for elementary school kids where they sing praise, study scripture, and run. Lots of running. It's awesome. I have learned so much from my little group of first grade boys and have been unbelievably blessed by each one. 

Here's a little pic from last night's amoeba tag game. Not sure if there was ever a winner. I think they were just happy to run in circles (:

Tuesday Morning.

I am finding the older I get and the further from home I may be...friendships are vital. They are beautiful. They are of value. Friendships are our connections. A little treasure from God to remind that as we grow up, as we leave home, we are able to be okay. I really believe relationships are Spirit built. They are lasting and eternal because relationships are glances of God's relationship with us. They have been touched by His spirit. Relationships give us a sense of home. A reminder that Christ is near by. Cherish the moments you get to spend in meaningful relationships. They are gifts beyond our own blessing. 

Fall At Its Finest In 80 Degree Weather

Today was filled with early morning coffee sessions instead of class, finding quarters for my laundry, riding bikes awkwardly in pencil skirts and wedges, drawing in greenhouses, late night runs, and apple doughnuts.

I'm ready for scarves though.

Well Here's To Another Blog!

Here's to documenting the new, the exciting, the day by day, the inspiration, and the joys of life.

My name is Mariel and currently I'm an inspired minimalist aspiring to become one of the future art teachers of America. This blog will just be an attempt to document the day by day life of a 20 something year old making her way through college and her 20s!

Blessings and cheers to what these years hold!

MDH

Sometimes You Have To Create Your Own Sunshine.

I'm beginning to realize that sometimes you just have to grab life by the horns and stop waiting for the sunshine to brighten your days because sometimes its going to be gloomy. You will just have to make your own.

My solution: Wear glittery shoes.