TC Larson Writes

Writing, family, faith, haphazard experiments and general mischief. And plenty of fountain drinks.

[tclarsonwrites]

Waiting for justice with bated breath

Waiting for justice with bated breath -- the Chauvin trial, breath prayers, and art as prayer when you're not quite sure how to pray (if you even want to in the first place).

This is an intense time. It’s a painful time. It’s a period of difficult conversations, a tragic pandemic, and senseless loss of life at the hands of those who are sworn to protect us. It’s overwhelming. It’s disheartening. In the face of all this it’s hard to know what to do, even as you feel the need to DO SOMETHING. Sometimes the “something” is giving yourself time and space to go for a…

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Breath prayers: for those tragic times when breath prayers are all you've got

Breath prayers: for those tragic times when breath prayers are all you’ve got

Breath prayers are very useful in times of distress, in times of heartache, in times of grief. In those times, it’s often all you can do to muster any energy at all, and the thought of praying might be difficult, especially if something you desperately, earnestly prayed for did not happen, or when the dense darkness seems like it might never ebb. In those times you might still want to believe in…

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The little I have is yours: another breath prayer

The little I have is yours: another breath prayer

Aka When all you have to offer is a tolerance for pain, a coupla college credits, and a top-notch brain Lest anyone think I’m trying to pass off the title of this post as my own, I hope you recognized it from Hamilton. I’m trying to keep going with these breath prayers but I gotta tell you — it’s a challenge. There’s a lot of internal arguing with God in my head, and a lot of frustration with…

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Moving forward in love

Moving forward in love

These pages in a handmade art journal were created as a response to breath prayers hosted by Osheta Moore. Most of the prayers are hers, but I missed a couple so I added my own to fill in the gaps. When in doubt assume they’re from Osheta.

Are you someone who mulls things over, reviews situations over and over again, reconsiders what should have been said or done?

Or are you a person who…

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Handling hot emotions as we wait

Handling hot emotions as we wait

This is an intense period in society here in the United States. There are strong feelings on all sides. As a general position in any situation, I dislike conflict, so any election season is tiring. You can probably guess (and I bet I’m not alone) that it’s been a lo-o-o-ong few months. I’m finding it hard to stay detached from the campaign and the results. The values I thought we shared as a…

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Trying to remain hopeful and keep believing

Trying to remain hopeful and keep believing in the face of disappointment and disorientation. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief -- a breath prayer.

Another Breath Prayer

This is a challenging time. There are a lot of things happening in the United States that can make a person question the democratic process and second guess the values you thoughtwere shared as common to our society. Civility and common courtesy seem to be at an all-time low, people are dehumanizing one another, and we are not listening to each other. People seem…

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Glory shown through us

Glory shown through us

This should start by saying if you don’t believe in God, this conversation will be interesting only as a mental exercise. Because if there is no god then of course God doesn’t show his/her glory since there’s no one to do the showing.

If you do think there’s a God, however, you might have heard the idea of doing something for God’s glory or wanting to see God’s glory. Especially in Christian…

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Storyteller - a third breath prayer

Storyteller – a third breath prayer

Note: this is another installment in a series of breath prayers. You can read the first post here

In recent years there’s been an emphasis on the concept of story. From Bob Goff sharing inspiring examples of how he chose to invest in making his life a great story (and he does tell of exciting adventures and an openness that has brought opportunities that would never have happened with a…

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Breath prayers: a series

Breath prayers: a series

I’ve been working on something for the last few months, during this challenging time, when we’re facing situations and challenges, awakenings and reckonings, an author and pastor introduced a series of morning breath prayers. That pastor’s name is Osheta Moore, and she is a lovely human who wrote Shalom Sistas, and preaches at Woodland Hills and Roots Covenant, among other places.

While…

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Earth Day and Plastic Anxiety: Bad News and Practical Baby Steps

Earth Day and Plastic Anxiety: Bad News and Practical Baby Steps

As if we do not have enough to be concerned about right now in our collective Coronoavirus lives, I’m here to be your unhappy little elf who comes around at night dropping wet tissues and bad news under your pillow.

I missed the memo

Did you know that…

Only like 10% of the plastics we’ve sent to be recycled have even been recycled SINCE THE 1980’s!!?

Remember how recycling plastic…

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Grout, Panty lines, and Grace

Grout, Panty lines, and Grace

My kitchen grout is disgusting.

When we lived in over seven years ago I knew it was a different color than the tile, and someone mentioned it might need cleaning. In the chaos of getting settled, the kids starting school, and general hubbub of life, I didn’t think about it again for years. YEARS.

My husband noticed it after a while and suggested we should find some cleaner and see what happened.…

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Very little margin this Advent Season

Very little margin this Advent Season because Life, but even the smallest gestures matter.

At the end of November we took an epic family road trip, something we’ve never done with our extended family.

We spent a week down south and it was glorious.

I know. I’ll shut up now.

To make you feel better, you should know we returned to this…

This is the project we’ve been preparing for since spring. And now that it’s underway, we’re glad…but surprised at how many questions there are,…

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Establishing Patterns: finishing one routine and beginning another

Establishing Patterns: finishing one routine and beginning another

Habits and routines are not my favorite things. Morning coffee is an exception to that, as well as finding my car keys. Other than those things, I have to work purposefully to establish routines to accomplish different goals — although, come to think of it, late evening snacking seems to come pretty easily.

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Create-along art journal page: taking our emotional temperature

Create-along art journal page: taking our emotional temperature

  Today’s prompt and step by step is all about taking our own emotional temperature and checking in with ourselves.

  As we begin working, consider how you’re feeling today. If you’d like to expand it, you can think about how you’ve been feeling lately, say in the past few months or so.

      I mean it, it took soooooooo loooooooong. So what was my emotional temperature at that time?

    Impat…

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Art prompt and create-along

Art prompt and create-along

For a while I’ve wished to help people get started art journaling. It’s been such a transformative tool in my own life, and I’ve hosted enough workshops to watch other have their own “ah-ha!” moments. It’s such a fun outlet and a way of processing our lives.

I thought about trying to host an in-person retreat but I know how hard it is for people to get away, even for a few hours. I also have a…

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Starting from nowhere but not starting alone: a highspeed art journal spread

Over on Instagram, my feed is almost exclusively art journaling and art. There are a few family members and friends, of course, but it is really heavily skewed to arty goodness.

One thing I love to watch is process videos. I find it fascinating to see a page go from nothing to full of color and texture. It’s almost like one of those cool nature documentaries that show a flower sprouting out of…

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A larger table

This week the world of Christian writing and thought and theology lost a pivotal figure in Rachel Held Evans. She went into the hospital at the beginning of the Lenten Easter season and passed away over the weekend of May 3. She was 37 years old. She had many books still to be written, many years with her family still to be lived, and many creative pursuits still to explore.

Almost immediately…

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