Art and Languages

I love art. I can't really tell you anything about art, like I don't know all the famous artists or when things were created and I don't have any technical training in anything. The closest I ever got to an art class was an after school program I went to for a couple weeks in elementary school and one of those wine and painting nights (I went to that one as an adult). But I love art. I love to look at all the art. I love to imagine how people felt when they created something, or what they're trying to say. Art about bible stories is extra fun for me, because it's art combo biblical interpretation.   

I love learning languages. I know English okay. And while this blog may have you believe otherwise, I do know some basic grammar. I write like this on purpose, because I like it. I also know some small talk Spanglish and a little Ancient Greek. I took a Hebrew class, but I remember about 3-4 words and 5% of the characters of the alphabet, so it's safe to say that I don't know Hebrew. I really love learning languages though. I took Greek for two years in college and it was one of my fav classes. I took a free Spanish class last year, just for fun. I have a dream one day that I'll be fluent in Spanish. That's a far away dream, but hopefully I have 60-70 years of one days.

These are things I like. You know those days when you feel extra motivated to be a better person and live a more full life? I get one of those every January, the beginning of every spring, and when school starts back up (even though I haven't been in school for several years). For me, my imagination of living a more full life usually involves me being more creative or learning something, especially languages.

So, a cool thing. I learned about this practice called "star words" (not to be confused by star WARS). The idea is near epiphany (12 days after Christmas---hence the song the 12 days of Christmas--- we remember the magi/wisemen/3 kings/etc. followed a star to see the child, Jesus), you take different words like encouragement, direction, leadership, learning, helpfulness, etc. and put them on a pic of a star (you probably don't need to actually do that, but it also just seems right if you're going to call them star words), and then you randomly select a word for the year. It can be a lens for approaching the new year and a different way to be looking for God at work in your life during the year. So, we did that this year at Bethel. (Also, I've got like 100 words in my office if you want me to pick you one.)

Guess what I picked? "Art." And then later I realized that the word "Languages" was stuck to it. So, I took two. And, because of that, I've been trying to do more creative things and trying to learn Spanish again. I bought a Spanish workbook and it comes with a flashcard app. Yo se palabras sobre una casa y comida y ropa y mi familia. Por ejemplo, mis abuelos leen mi blog (?como se dice blog in espanol?) cada noche en su silla a su escritorio.

Right now this blog and making dinner have been my creative things. Turns out, I really like cooking and I'm kind of good at it. I don't always have time to try super creative meals. It's usally like one part of the meal is creative, and then the other part is like putting Costco orange chicken in the oven.

This post is kind of long today, so adios!