A Board, Some Stuff, and Me

So, a while back a friend of mine had this crazy idea to paint words onto a Scrabble board.  Good words, things she wanted to remember, and I wanted to do the same, although I was lacking in a Scrabble board for myself.  So, copycat that I am, I found an old game of Balderdash (one of my favourites, although the board is really quite pointless), and have beautified it somewhat.  Below are some pictures of the board (start, progress, and finished); explanations will follow later, because it's getting late and I really should have been in bed an hour ago... But what can I say?  I'm practising for those all-nighters that are bound to happen once September rolls around again...

Anyways, enjoy the pictures!

In the Beginning, there was a board of the Balderdash variety...

My camera refuses to rotate this photo, so here is the board once I started painting...  I improved the colours of the pathway, added my name, and some 3D shoes and filled in the paint bucket with more beautiful colours...

A closer look at the left side reveals:

And zooming in on the right side we see:

Again, my computer and camera are working against me and refusing to accept the orientation of this photo, but if you tilt your head dramatically to the left you can see the finished Balderdash Board: The Bluffing Game of Life!

Zooming in to look at the left side we have:

~ Faith, Hope, and Love - Three of the most important elements in a happy life.

* Sunshine - because the world would be dark and scary without Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun...

~ and, a Pocket of Art Cards.  Now, these cards all represent some aspect of my life (and are featured up close nearer the bottom of this post...)

The trees in the centre of the board also bring a special meaning to the board of life.  The other evening I was having a lovely campfire in my backyard with the young adults group from my church.  We roasted hot dogs, toasted (and burned) marshmallows for s'mores, became addicted pyromaniacs, and had a Bible study.  We looked at the Supremacy of Christ passage in Paul's letter to the Colossians, more specifically how that passage reminds us of the power of the cross and our need to focus on Jesus, and I got thinking...  It's easy to say that we want to remain focused on Christ, but there are so many things in life that distract us from God's truth.  As I was laying in the grass, looking up into the trees above, a metaphor for life came to mind.  Life is kind of like looking through the trees, trying to catch a glimpse of the sky.  We can get caught up in the leaves, that is, the little, somewhat insignificant things of life, or we can focus on the bigger picture, and see how the leaves interact with the light from the sky above.  The campfire casts a beautiful red-orange glow on the leaves, mesmerizing me.

Now, if, metaphorically speaking, God is the sky, the leaves are all of the things going on in life, and the fire is Satan trying to get my attention, it seems pretty clear what I should be focusing on... If only those flames didn't cast such a (seemingly) beautiful glow on life...

And looking to the left we find a bunch of words.  Good words.  Things I need to remember.  And, I am reminded specifically of a favourite song of mine by Mark Schultz, called "Broken and Beautiful."  Because no matter how much I screw up, or how broken I am or feel, God is with me, and you, ALWAYS.

SMILE!  Cuz Chicks Rule!

Starbucks, my new job.  So excited!

The end.  That's it.  There ain't no more, folks.  Hope you enjoyed this little explanation of my life on a board.  It's all about bluffing, pretending you know what you're doing and talking about, and hoping someone out there has the right answer in the end!