The world at its best

Those who seek to be shaped by Christian spirituality are called to yearn for a transformed world. The world at it's best. And then to connect that with the everyday reality of life. The world as it is.

Here's an exercise I found helpful. You might too.

Get pen and paper (not pc and keyboard) and scribble down six things that would be true for your life if the world at its best was reality. Write quickly and instinctively. Avoid filtering, censoring or seeking the appearance of correctness, just get them down on paper.

You might find it helpful to write out in full "If the world at its best was reality" at the start of each sentence. It's not efficient but it somehow helps.

Feel free to keep your six sentences private or to post them in the comments below (where you'll find mine)

richard w

What's Your Medium?

What's your medium? We're created in the image of a creative God, so makes sense that we're all creative. With a small "c" (that means we're not all "arty" but we are all creative).

God created each of us to be creative in some ways i.e. to make new things, or to reinvent things, or to dream up things, or rethink things.

We don't always know what our medium is, but can discover it by accident. I discovered digital art by accident some years ago (by trying out a program that came free on a magazine), and knew immediately that I'd found something amazing that I wanted to learn. And it's still going.

So what about you? I spoke to someone last week who fancied a go at digital art, so I posted some web links to free software tools, one of which got me started in 3D art. So if you're still trying things to find what your medium is, you might want to play around with digital art and see if it's your thing. Try these ...

1. ArtRage - a "natural media" painting program - imitates paint, pencil, pastel etc. http://www.artrage.com/artragedown.html
2. Truespace - a program for creating 3D art. http://forms.caligari.com/forms/ts3all_free.html

I'm happy to chat with anyone who fancies a go, to help you get going, and to chip in with ideas and suggestions. If there are enough people wanting to work on this stuff, maybe we can find some way to get together or network online about it?

If you have a Dream get together coming up, maybe ask God to give you a start in creating some images for it, and maybe upload them at http://www.dream.uk.net

Final thought - I have my own style and approach, but that's me, but the aim is that you should find your unique creative voice and your own medium.

Just have a go - that's how I got started.

Richard Lyall

dream to go 17 - you're fired!

Nice try.

You did your best to convince us that you were what we’re looking for. You managed to keep the smile going, even on the telephone. And that irresistible mix of friendly charm and assertive drive, it almost had us fooled. You were almost there, head and shoulders above the rest.

But then you blew it. Let your guard slip. And we realised you weren’t going to be the Apprentice after all. Your persona’s great, but there’s not much of a person behind it is there? Weak, nervous, small and unreliable. You are the weakest link. Goodbye.