Posts

Posted on

Grasping or Letting Go?

Finite is easier to grasp than infinite. Fear is easier than Love. Infinite will not be grasped, only glimpsed. The more I work on loving, the greater the project becomes. Love doesn’t know boundaries, it doesn’t know limits, finites, or fear.
–
I’ve spent the last few days on finites. I’ve felt fear over an empty calendar, the loss of seemingly critical support groups, the backlash against a hug or small gathering…
–
This morning the sky was full of pretty things, a cotton candy sunrise, a crescent moon, a planet (maybe), a star, and all the life that comes with a late winter day.
–
I remembered this phrase, “We will gain more than we have lost.” It came to me in one of those tongues of the Holy Spirit, some piece of me that is often quiet.
–
I wrote it down on a square of plywood two years ago and imagine it has been burned to ash, an invisible molecule of carbon on the wind.
–
A new life calls, a new adventure dawns.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

Temple

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Days 28 and 29: Build Build Build!

Ultimately, we had more than 29 pieces for our Delaware Fun-A-Day project. I couldn’t exclude any of the imaginative creations that came out of our Lego workshop.

Our youngest builder got me excited with her enthusiasm and unclouded vision. To be invited into a child’s imagination and asked for help making that dream become real is one of my greatest thrills.

She built this beach scene on her own and I’m amazed at how she recreated the waves.

My son helped her with the grocery cart and we had a blast stocking the counters.

This woodland scene was a team effort and brought another level of depth to our project.

More forest and more action and adventure from one of our boy builders.

God bless and thank you for building, er, I mean reading,

Jason

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Days 26 and 27: Prolific Building

Too busy building to post, the last few days of our project had many friends visiting and many awesome creations appearing.

The first is a woodland scene with a stormtrooper on the hunt for a tiny meal. I love the careful placement of the predator and his prey and how alive these woods are.

The wackiest build of the month may be the Mad Max-inspired Chicken Smasher.

I picked up the helmet piece and said, “This would make a great grill on a battle wagon.” My son and his friend went to work, adding water effects and a chicken wedge from an old McDonald’s promotion.

Children get crazier as they work through their familiar builds and find confidence and freedom in their own creativity. Frankly, I’m not sure what’s happening at this robbery. The police are already there (with a Pegasus-emblazoned shield, no less), the thief is wielding a laser sword, and a man is idly strumming his acoustic guitar in the midst of the chaos.

It’s everything a Lego scene should be.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Days 23 and 24: From the Tundra to the Desert

I love these inventive scenes from one of our young, home-educated friends.

He created a couple unique pieces by challenging himself to try new techniques.

The dogsled team scene is particularly interesting as the sled is on Lego skis and moves side to side behind the dogs. I believe this is our only scene to have a movment component.

The desert scene was inspired by his desire to make a cactus. I struggled through our pile of idea books to find him an example, but came up with nothing.

I found one bright green “shoulder” element and turned it upside down and we imagined it as an arm. He went to town on the inverted build (known as Studs Not On Top, or SNOT) as I gave him an example of how he could fix it to his desert baseplate.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Days 20, 21, and 22

The last week of our Delaware Fun-A-Day project was a whirlwind of guest builders.

I followed my younger in building a spinning top (his works better).

A home educating mom and her son contributed an interesting robbery and a costume party with a disgruntled bunny.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

Posted on

Listening

I hear the Holy Spirit speak to me outside. A breeze across my arm can send my thoughts Heavenward. A blue sky can carry me lightyears away. Birds and beasts distract me from earthly concerns. They take me out of my mind and into the moment.
—
This moment was one year ago. The quietest birthday I had in a long time. One year as a widower and I had lost friends, family, even a lover.
—
I was learning to love myself. Baby steps as I started to discover how much self love I was lacking. It was easy to get away with while married. Mary and I loved each other more than enough to cover up each other’s missing pieces.
—
This year has seen stark contrast of fear and joy. Discontent, followed by peace, then more discontent, perhaps less biting, then peace, deeper and broader.
—
Today I’m going to watch a friend be put to rest. My tears are prodigious, but not desperate, not for myself. I’ll see more storms, this one isn’t mine. It’s the storm of a mother and three beautiful children. Another widowed parent in our black club.
—
So, off we go. The branch won’t hold us for long and the sky beckons. What’s out there in the infinite sky? Danger, adventure, sustenance, fear, love, all the things.
—
I’ll continue to listen for the Holy Spirit to guide my way through all of it.
—

God bless and thank you for reading,
Jason

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Day 19: Retro Razorback

I had a lot of fun with this one. I let go of trying to be clever or creative and grabbed a pile of the old elements from the space sets of my youth.

I aimed to jam as many grey wings and rockets together within the daily 16×22-stud project area.

And jam I did. Several of the wings are pressed sideways between studs (a non-standard method not used in Lego manuals) and the bottom pair are placed upside down (Studs Not On Top, or SNOT).

I highlighted with modern purple and blue pieces. Excessive rockets and vintage blue/yellow arrows finished things off.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Day 18: Peace Between Animals

Compassion. Evolution. Creativity.

Westen, 10-going-on-teen, started this scene with a hunter looking for prey. In real life, we got the opportunity to purchase this white wolf and it seemed like the perfect challenge for his minifigure.

Westen cleverly staged the scene, awaiting the meet-up with the wolf’s former owner.

We got the wolf and I wasn’t paying attention as the scene was finished.

I saw the hunter lying beside the build and asked, “Westen, are you going to finish your scene?” He had built a small platform for the minifigure that blended with the surroundings and allowed for a variety of positions, I was eager to see these considerations incorporated.

“It’s ready, Dad.”

“But what about the hunter?”

“The wolf looked too peaceful, so he’s just hanging with his bunny buddy.”

It instantly became a spirit journey scene for me. I wonder if he’s the bunny riding through a peaceful wood on his mama’s back. I wonder how much good happens when we gather around the Lego table and build side-by-side.

Mary overlooks our work. We made this figure for the bowsprit of a fantastical boat we built together in the weeks after losing her.

She loved building with her boys and she was the queen of sorting. She had an organized mind, I could never keep up with her.

She might be aghast at sacrificing our largest room exclusively to Lego, but I think she’d allow some leeway under the circumstances.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

Posted on

Delaware Fun-A-Days 14 and 15: Tomb Raider and Space Heist Shootout

I realized my dream of including other home educating families in our one-piece-of-art-every-day-in-February journey.

These boys went for action and adventure. I love getting in on the process and sometimes being completely ignorant of it.

The Tomb Raider creator is 13 and his ideas were pouring out. I could hardly keep up with writing them down.

He wanted to build a pyramid with a cutaway cross section to reveal the ancient contents. Once constructed, the scene evolved to include a ludacrisly large bandit brandishing Wonder Woman’s golden lasso and riding an impractical beast in the desert.

This young man built quietly and mysteriously. Every time I saw him duck his head out of a drawer of bricks he was wearing the biggest smile in the room (maybe next to my own).

With over-the-top alien criminals and a familiar pallette, I love this Star Wars-inspired scene.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason