Something Beautiful

I had an idea. A marvelous idea. A wonderful, marvelous, uncanny idea!

I'm just not sure if it's a GOOD idea ...

Shani came home from the girls' lock-in and sleepover (at 1:30 am, which caused a slight panic in those of us sleeping at home. I woke up at 12:30 and wondered why she wasn't back yet. Fortunately, she knows me, so responded quickly to my texts, allaying rising panic. Anyway,) sleepover at NHCC, and as she was telling me about it I was hit with my idea:

We could do that.

The sleepover was about looking at yourself through God's eyes, and how we are beautiful. There were art stations, and decorations, and a special speaker, and mirrors with Bible verses on them (so you'd be looking at yourself THROUGH God's word - literally!), and I thought we could do that!

We have in the past. The tea parties we put together, the fairy tale party, other things that are currently escaping my mind ... The tea parties in particular. We put them together, and we spoke at them about God and beauty and self-worth at them, arranging the theme of the party around what. We're speaking on. And we're really good at it.

Well, TOGETHER we are.

Like I said, opposite, but complimentary gifts.

So, when Shai described that, I was immediately struck with WE COULD DO THAT.

Here's my idea so far as it has gelled:

We would start a company (my current name idea is "Something Beautiful") and be engaged by youth groups, churches, Sunday school, or parents, to create an event that would speak to young ladies (I'm thinking of age 10 - 18) about different things, beauty, careers, singleness, self-worth, dreams, and their relationship with Jesus. We would do all the planning, decorating, cooking, prep and clean up, etc. We can fashion the event around their speaker, or be speakers ourselves. The POINT would be to help young women overcome the hurts and lies they have to live with in our society.

Healing and helping people is something Shani and I BOTH love to do.

I've been trying to figure a business we could go into together for awhile that would work with both our talents, and I think this could.

I am a visionary. As you might have noticed from my idea, I have BIG ideas! They're shiny, and glossy, and pretty! But they're awfully hard for me to pin down into the nitty-gritty details of real life. Shani, however, is MARVELOUS at that! She listens to me chat about my idea (with such specific terms as "shiny, glossy, and pretty,") asks me about it, and then starts figuring out what I MEAN.

Like my birthday party. I want it to be BIG, and a celebration of who I am, that my life has meaning and a REASON to celebrate, and to give me hope that people love and believe in me for my future.

Sounds awesome, right? But what does it mean?

Shani is helping me sort that out, and is helping me make things practical WITHOUT giving up my big dream.

For example, I want a time for people to drop in. There will be different spaces for people to sit, 5-6 to a group. What about seating? Because I don't want plastic or metal chairs, that's CHINTZY. And I do NOT WANT CHINTZY.

Shannon: "What about stumps and logs? Your family has tons of those around. You said you wanted it to be fairy-tale like, and we could decorate them with cushions and fabric, and stumps and logs would stay in the fairy-tale theme without costing anything."

Me: "... Ooooooooh! What a great idea!"

See? It's how we roll.

Also, I'm a very good party host. Not a conventional host, but people feel at ease and welcomed around me, and pretty soon start chatting and feeling good.

On the other hand, I'm TERRIBLE at making sure the food is laid out on time with NAPKINS and UTENSILS and that everybody has a place to SIT ... But Shani is *great* at it.

She also has this bizarre talent to create something from nothing. It's amazing - seriously. At our parties, she somehow always manages to create these beautiful environments just from random things lying around. I never even see it as a possibility, and she just says, "Trust me, it will work!"

I've learned to shut up and trust her.

In re: the speaking bits of our potential company, since Logos started having a chapel, I've gotten to speak a LOT more, and I REALLY like it. I even have several different speeches addressing things I've noticed NEED addressing planned and running through my head at different times.

Girls especially are on my heart, because I remember being one. And I remember struggling (and still struggling!) with a bunch of lies. I look at the women around me, some of them best friends, some of them just women I know, and a lot of them are living on a false set of beliefs:
"I am not pretty enough."
"I have to be good enough."
"I am worthless."
"I can't."
"I am not important."
"No one will take care of me."

I know several women who have ended up in sick marriages - and I use the term "sick" with intention - because they married the guy, assuming nobody else would have them.

Breaks my heart, it really does.

These lies start in childhood! And without someone speaking into their hearts the TRUTH, how are the young women of today going to walk in it?

That they ARE beautiful!
That they don't HAVE to be "good enough."
That they are PRICELESS.
That they CAN.
That they ARE important.
That they WILL be taken care of.

Anyway. That's my idea. Yeah.

I dunno about making it work. I would need to talk with Shani, and with our pastor, and Shani's parents, and other pastors (is there a market for this kind of thing). But ... it would be something DIFFERENT, still in keeping with our talents, still allowing me to minister (that's very important to me), but also different.

And I'm kind of ready for something different ...