Cooking, Crabbing and Creative corners

The School holidays are a peculiar thing. On the one hand, the days stretch out long and wide without the constant headless-chickening of school runs, clubs and evening meetings. On the other, the days roll into one, like a summer snowball of cooking, cleaning, clutter-clearing and desperate de-screening*. 

Usually, the only time it is peaceful in my household is 6am. And even then, the bunny insists on stamping his little foot the moment I sit at the breakfast table, asking to be let out. I have to prise the dog out of his crate so I can move it to create a barrier between the dining room and lounge, so said bunny can’t get behind the TV and chew the cables when I open up (nope, I didn’t read that chapter of the ‘open-plan living' manual.)

Then – a break in the norm – I get to go to the beach for a few days. Cue lazy days cousining**, crabbing, eating chips and finding creative corners.

Let me explain the latter. Instead of barmy bunnies, I have screechy seagulls; even so, there’s something deliciously peaceful about sitting on a balcony at 7am (yes, I gave myself a little lie-in) watching a horizonless sea and sky with a Bible and journal in hand. See my view, below.

If the kids get roudy (downside of the lie-in), I pull shut the patio doors, or go for a walk along the sands seeing just a few seagulls and the odd over-eager dog walker. I’m not a big fan of sand between my toes, but something about the sea sparks the craving for eternity, doesn’t it? Something about the endlessness of it all ignites the imagination.

Some might call them sacred spaces, those places where heaven feels a little closer, like the place Jacob called the 'gate of heaven' (Genesis 28:16-17). Yet for me, they are also creative corners, because my writing flows out of my relationship with God. 

In these creative corners of my day, whether stationary or moving, conversation flows between me and my Lord and poems often rise to the lips as easily as prayers. When I start the day with God, he provides what I need to write the rest of it. Later, I might get 15 minutes at the laptop, or I might get an hour or two, but my primary objective is straightened out. I write to honour my Saviour. 

Finding creative corners can be difficult when life is chaotic. Yet these precious moments are what keep us going, are what define the difference between existing and living. We are spiritual beings and we need to nurture our souls. We are creative beings and, if our mouths speak what our hearts are full of (Luke 6:45), let’s do our utmost to make sure our hearts are full of moments like these. 

Have a wonderful summer. 

*A process by which one attempts to persuade the children that it is possible to do something that doesn’t involve a screen. It invariably fails. They are constantly “bored”.

**The practice of catching up with cousins.

    Natasha Woodcraft lives in Cambridgeshire with her husband, 4 sons, a spotty dog, an evil bunny and some much maligned fish. She believes stories have power to communicate deep truth and transform lives. Her published novels, The Wanderer Scorned & The Wanderer Reborn, explore God’s redemptive purposes for messy people by reimagining the tale of Cain & Abel. Also a songwriter, Natasha peppers her emotional prose with poetry and song.