I HAVE A NEW IDEA THAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT AND IT’S OH SO WEIRD! AND IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE STRANGEST THING I’VE EVER PUT IN MY SUITCASE! AND MY TEENAGER IS BEGGING ME TO RECONSIDER AND IS WONDERING IF THIS PROJECT MEANS THAT I’M GOING TO CONSTANTLY EMBARRASS HIM OUR ENTIRE TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY!
I will stop yelling now. (And the answer is MAYBE!)
This post could be subtitled, What Craziness Happens When I take a Three Days Off Of Work to Have a Blast Cleaning My House.
Before I explain this strange project and ask for your help I want to tell you how it came about. I want to do this because I’m nervous about revealing this weird idea to you and explaining will delay things and maybe it will help you accept it better. So I’ll start by telling you that I am not a clean freak. Usually if the house is suddenly sparkling and shiny, Todd will put his hand on my shoulder and ask me if I’m depressed. But with the busy-ness at work and home of the last few weeks, my house had gotten out of control and something had to be done. Plus I knew I would enjoy New York more if I left things clean.
So I attacked my house with ammonia and Kaboom and 3 containers of Clorox wipes. I wiped everything down. I cleaned every slat of every set of blinds. I mopped and vacuumed and scrubbed. And all the time I was loving it- the luxury of checking things off and the pleasure of time to think!
And one thing I kept thinking of was my Baby Jesus and his manger that I bought when we were living our French life. He was made by the nuns at a monastery in Caux, France, (yes, there are nuns at a monastery, not just monks) and he used to hang on my wall until some child of mine accidentally knocked him to the floor and I realized I could enjoy him anywhere.
Remember him from Monday’s post? I posed him in a pollen shower on my patio table to help me think about God’s willingness to get in all our messes with us.
After I finished taking that photo, I decided to continue my break from ammonia fumes and play around with taking his photo in other places.
Like this place.
Maybe it’s just me (really, maybe it is,) but I just LOVE this photo. I love the way the ivy leaves seem to be hovering over him, as if checking on him, and the way the tiny weeds seem to be leaning over the rim of the manger to get a look. It made me think of scripture in which mountains sing and trees clap their hands in praise. And verses like “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.” Psalms 66:4.
And it made me wonder where else I could take him. Where could we go and who could we visit and photograph to remind us why God got the whole thing started, why God put on human skin and came to be with us, wherever we find ourselves? Whom could we ask to hold baby Jesus in their hands? What places could we visit that might be surprising and make me think?
This adds a whole new element to our trip to New York!
So see why my youngest is nervous?
Anyway, I’m often a big fat chicken so this may not take off at all. I may be too shy to pull Jesus out of my bag and take his picture. I might not ask a single person to hold him in her hands. Or I might be brave and figure out a way to explain it so that they don’t call the police or think I’m about to thump them over the head with a Bible! Wouldn’t that be interesting?
I’m working on my pre-photo pitch. And Sam is in his room, probably praying to God that I give the whole idea up.
So how can you help? I figure I’m more likely to make it happen if I know people know about it and are waiting on me to produce photos, so see, you’ve already helped by reading this post! Thank you!
You could share the post on Facebook if you’re not afraid that people will find out you have weirdo friends. And you could follow my new instagram account, TravelingBabyJesus, where I’ll post my photos. Unless I crawl in a hole and forget the whole thing.
Anyway, thanks! And wish me and my traveling companions good luck!
Love, Becky
PS. I know my mother will worry that I’m posting in public about going away, so let me add that NOT ALL of my family will be leaving town, so robbers out there, know that highly trained ninjas and venomous snakes and who knows what else will be house sitting, waiting to welcome visitors.