Author Archives: nancy marie davis

About nancy marie davis

Nancy Marie Davis illustration, photography, mixed media, and thought writing

softly

19 Replies

#4 from the list of seven changes

Speak softly instead of loudly

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I have found that speaking louder has never helped me get anyone’s attention, nor has it helped to get a point across. A loud voice reminds me of all the colourful balloons and flags that a store puts out on the sidewalk when business is not good, trying to get folks to notice. The store is soon out of business anyway. The loud flags are a last-ditch effort to gain attention, but not good attention.  All the flags in the world won’t change what’s inside the store.  It just screams “going out of business because no one wants to shop here.” It’s a way of making everyone that goes by feel like they are cared about only for their money.

Now, to speak-up when a crowd of people are trying to hear me, is a totally different story. I’m thinking about looking at my tone and my timing, allowing for a softer voice in my daily conversation.

I need to fight the urge to interrupt and speak-over people to say something…because otherwise i forget what i wanted to say if i wait. And now i am thinking that perhaps what i have to say is not as important as continuing to listen. Because how a person is spoken to matters just as much, if not more, than what is being said. What is powerful, is how the other person is made to feel. How one is made to feel can, by itself, wipe out anything that is said, can take the place of words, or can make a person either want to hear words or make them not want to hear them at all.

I think that waiting until a time that a softer voice can be used is a way of showing respect toward another person. A soft tone can express caring to the other person. And i think that the other person can feel this care very deeply.

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photo from flickr

music

12 Replies

# 3 from the list of seven changes

Experience live music instead of recorded.
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I put this one down because i don’t often go and see a live performance of any kind. My husband has gotten into the Portland symphony lately. I go with him to some of them, but i don’t have an appreciation for all of it.

When i was at the artist retreat, there were musicians there as well. I realized how much i liked hearing and seeing someone play and sing. I just like a small venue. And it doesn’t need to be someone famous.

I can’t even imagine how music was regarded before one could play recorded music. But i realize that it’s a social event. I think that i’m missing the more personal connection that local live music can offer.

I spend too much time in my own little circle and could make an effort to get in touch with more things in my own community. Live music will be one good way to do that.
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photo from flickr

speak

8 Replies

Number two from the list of thoughts.

2.. speak with God instead of trying to do it all

What can i say.  I talk to God in snippets throughout the day, and still i get caught up. I don’t know why it takes me so long to realize when i need to think a little deeper and wider when it comes to relating with God. My interaction can become shallow when i’m not giving things over to God to handle, or asking God for guidance and help.

One of the sure signs of needing to go deeper is when something is bothering me. Depending on what it is, i can take it and hold on like a dog with a meaty bone.  It’s really a very sad sight when i don’t let go with all that drooling and growling and such.

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– photo via flickr

choice

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A choice is made. But, it takes a person ages to realize the immensity of it. We know that it was a choice to follow Jesus. We are brought to a place of awareness that, somewhere along the line, we have made the choice that our heart knows is right. And we find that choice being renewed over and over again as our minds and hearts are being renewed.

We had no idea what changes would take place in our heart. We did not know of all the breaking and comforting; or for that matter, all the Grace.

We start a process of being retaught, sometimes forgetting just who the teacher is, we are constantly being brought back on track as God speaks to us. He speaks to our spirit with His Holy Spirit. He speaks with a soft voice to our heart. And when we don’t listen, He waits…until we are ready to listen again.

Eventually we understand that we are to listen to His voice, and to do what He says. It must be His voice. And we know His voice. Our heart has always known his voice. And still we are constantly brought back on track. That never changes.

And one day we look around and find just how much change has taken place. It can be encouraging, and sometimes scary. But, still, our heart knows that we are in good hands.

If we are quiet and we listen, we know who God is, and who we are. And we know that the immensity is a very great Love that brings us home.
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t.v.

6 Replies

continued…from yesterday’s post

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( 1.. Watch life instead of television. )

I have gone through the fact that there are better things to do in time and space than to give my attention over to television. Now, for the instead part.

Watch life. Look at life. Pay attention to life.

When i just want to sit down and soak up some tube rays, i can instead look around me and take in life. Listen to the sounds that life is making. Investigate. Create a thought that is not one of my ordinary thoughts. Be creative, sly, cunning. Fly.

I’m wondering how many lonely people would not be so lonely if more people went face to face instead of face to television.

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next up: #2

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t.v.

6 Replies

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This is the first of seven changes that i am think-writing about.

Braun HF television receiver, Germany, 1958

1.. Watch life instead of television.

I read via wikipedia that the concept of electrically powered transmission of television images in motion was first sketched in 1878 as the telephonoscope, shortly after the invention of the telephone. At the time, it was imagined by early science fiction authors, that someday light could be transmitted over copper wires, as sounds were.

Although television become more familiar in the United States with the general public at the 1939 World’s Fair, the outbreak of World War Two prevented it from being manufactured on a large scale until after the end of the war.

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I was very young when a television entered our house. It lit up the room with images dancing around in black and white. I remember watching Popeye the Sailor Man and another show with a lady holding a magic mirror saying “mirror mirror tell me today…” which i think was Romper Room.

I was hooked.

I’m still hooked. But, questioning. For a long time now, i have been wondering just how much damage this wonderful invention does in the hands of writers, programmers, marketing experts, and the advertising of big money backers. I know it’s too late to turn back but, i can at least turn it off more often.

I ask myself what difference would it make if i watched life instead of television.

I use television as a kind of escape, to relax by, a thing i can do and not think…not think, kind of like sleepwalking while sitting down. I use it as my entertaining companion that i don’t need to talk to. Actually, it lulls my brain and fills it with crap. It also does this to children. But, as an adult, i think that i’m immune. But, i’m not.

There are a few programs on our Oregon Public Broadcasting station that i don’t consider to be crap. But, still, does it align with my beliefs? Also, it’s a choice of watching the program or doing something that i am beginning to consider “real” life.

How many times do i put attention to television over someone else in the room? And if i wasn’t giving my attention over to the television, what would i be doing instead?

One could find things on television that look real, but, the television is not a real or living thing. It is not a person or an animal or even a plant. It is not something that listens and feels and reacts. It does not care about me or know me, or my family, or anyone. But, it does a fine job of telling me and my family what to be and what to buy.

Television programs and commercials do not represent what i am to be as a Christ follower.  Not even the “so called” christian programs can do this.

Just who am i listening to?

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( to be continued… )

 

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seven changes

12 Replies

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Seven changes that i would like to think on and write about in the next few days.

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1.. watch life instead of television
2.. speak with God instead of trying to do it all
3.. experience live music instead of recorded
4.. speak softly instead of loudly
5.. talk face to face instead of using a device
6.. think creatively instead of not thinking
7.. give something away instead of keeping it

 

 

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dance of death

5 Replies

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i can go there
so easily
to wish for something
other
oh, mother
life is a bitch
when i won’t be satisfied
when i deny
the beauty
in front of my eyes
and i wail
of my loss
that i alone have caused
as i have wanted
what i do not have
and only need is fed
as it consumes me

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My Friend

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I miss the you I haven’t met,
My friend.
Is it
A question of time and space?
No.
Go back
To the beginning.
It’s a question of the human
Race.
A matter of Love
And breathing
Living Grace.
My desire
Is also yours
To embrace.
To embrace God in one another.
Listen
Be close
Relate

Texas

9 Replies

American menu
A burger in the Mexican restaurant
But, hey, they’re playing fifties rock and roll
What can they expect?
It’s a wonder I didn’t order a vanilla shake
Wo wo wo, You really got a hold on me
Hold me
Hold me
Hold me, hold
Me
Just waitin’ for my ride in the sky

photos

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I take pictures. It’s fun for me.

I’ve started a photo journal blog, posting photos from my quick, two-day trip to San Francisco. I had a little bit of time to walk around the business district for a little while catching bits and pieces of SF city life.

I plan to post one photo at a time…when i can get to it.

If you would like to see what i’ve got, link-up.

nance.photos

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postcards

8 Replies

I have received postcard number two. Actually, i am a bit disappointed with it, as it turned out muddy and dark looking. I’m not sure that anyone would be attracted to this image at all. But, that’s the way it goes. I suppose it could still be used, even though it’s not what i expected. Perhaps it will grow on me. I have named this one “star.” To see it just click “postcards” in the menu above.

I like postcards. They are better than a letter in every way. There is little room to write, so a person must get to the point. Wishing you were here and Love. They are like a kiss on the cheek or a hug. Plenty of room to send fond hello or a short poem. Now, tell me. Would you rather look at a postcard picture, or an envelope? Which one is likely to be put up on the fridge, on a desk, framed, stuck into the frame of a mirror, or used as a book mark?

Sometimes i get very very long letters stuffed in with cards nearing the end of the year. They list a year’s worth of accomplishments, they go on and on and on. I can’t even bear to read them anymore. Please. Do your friends a favor, and send them a postcard now and then, and then send them another one at the end of the year with a little bit of Love. Spread out the goodness over the year.

Take some time to fill out addresses on a bunch of postcards and attach the postage stamps. The cards will be ready for sending. Now put them in a handy spot. Put some in the glove compartment of your car, in your binder, at your desk, or next to your bed. Stuck in traffic? Waiting for a meeting? Early for an appointment? Just thought of someone? Send them a postcard. It’s doesn’t get deleted. It can be touched, held, and if it’s really sweet… it might be stuck in the frame of a mirror.

been there and back

6 Replies

It was one quick trip to San Francisco.
Though my flight left ninety minutes late, I was there in time for lunch.
I had never taken BART before. I got on the red line that took me right
to the BART station at SFO. There are about four or five machines where
one can buy a ticket to a certain destination. I bought a ticket to the Powell
Street station, and followed the group down one flight to the platform and
got on the train. I got off at the Powell Street station. After finding my way
outside i just stood there taking it all in. Blasting street performers with a guy
yelling over huge loudspeakers in non-english, buses, cars, people, and a
very long line for the cable car. I stood in the ticket line for about fifteen
minutes with no movement and gave up. Deciding to walk over a few
blocks to SFMOMA, the museum of modern art, where i got a bite to eat
out on the sidewalk eating area.Then inside to have a look. It was good to
be inside the museum seeing some art for awhile, and kinda strange to be
chased-down for talking on my cell phone. After awhile i was wanting to
get back out in the fine weather, all sunny and in the sixties.

I walked around taking photos. And later met Peter’s brother. He lives with
his wife in a condo in the downtown area. We went to dinner and ate
family style Chinese, sharing the dishes.

After dinner, saw the condo, took shots of the view, and then off for a
walk to my hotel.

The next day…all driving, back home. It took me about ten hours or so.

NOTE…

I started a virtual Photo Gallery.

There will be photos of my trip displayed there.

click ☞  PHoto GaLLery

…..One photo Per post.

…….ONe post per day-isH

………Link-up and view a few.