5 about finishing projects (etc.)

Today Sally hosts a projects, completions, endings, beginnings...5

Major congrats to Sally for finishing her master's thesis!!! She suggests we consider "as you look back over the last few years..." last few years:

1. I completed a 9-month long certificate in graphic design. School was 5 mornings a week for 9 months; my class graduated 13 October 2006. No special celebration, but the school had a party for us, everyone brought food and we loved receiving the last of 3 incremental certificates and a completion diploma. A big, big "thank you" to the state of California and a sigh of sorrow that the quality and quantity of public education is going way downhill too too fast.

2. In terms of actual projects, I'd love to have the $$$ to renovate my kitchen. A while back I painted the existing cabinets a nice warm yellow that looks just fine for now, but realistically, what am I waiting to begin? I need to give myself quite a few high-5's for the many pieces of furniture I've painted/re-painted and the 2 pieces I refinished during the last 6 months, but painting the kitchen/dining area is something that would be a noticeable improvement and even financially feasible. That paint's been on the walls for 10+ years.

3. I haven't kept putting off any particular project, but the ongoing weeding out, donating, recycling and free-cycling books and other "stuff" remains slow and labourious. However, over the past year (recent!) I've donated 9 big 13-gallon bags of clothes to the local thrift store and even parted with a a couple dozen books.

4. I can imagine so many dream project/jobs, but for something simple and feasible I'd love to be artist in residence for an inner city congregation. The monetary pay probably would be only a token stipend and maybe attendance at a workshop or conference or two, but I imagined designing posters, banners, bulletin covers (for Advent, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, anniversaries...), teaching neighborhood youth and adults and related. A good fit? A great one, and I did that to a minor extent when I served on pastoral staff in city of history, though it wasn't part of my job description and I'd love to do lots more.

Ideal? I also want to, need to help plan worship, I want and need to preach and teach some, write prayers and liturgies that will be used but it seems to be the art/design aspect is more feasible since no one is likely to think I'm invaded *their* delineated territory and in most cases it would enhance their existing ministry, mission and outreach.

5. "Be creative, you are going to publish a book/ song/poem, what is its title?" during mid-2004, all of 11 years ago, my book title was Justice, Freedom and Redemption: Divine Image and Creation's Glory and I'd still go with some related to ecology and the environment with my own cover design, maybe a few of my own illustrations.

Most typically I blog in a variety of growing, thriving ordinary time green or a readable, hopeful dark blue, but today I'm going for red, the liturgical colour for feasts of the Spirit such as Pentecost and Reformation (as well as the colour of martyrs, those saints whose deaths bore witness, martyria and testimony to the presence of the Spirit in their lives.

Thanks and congrats again, Sally!!!