| Searching for the next right answer When ones life begins spurting out coincidences, I find its important to take notice. Like that one-in-a-million fortune cookie, theres often a meaningful message inside. Recently, I indulged in a spur of the moment treat by attending a seminar at the National Cathedral with artist Meinrad Craighead. I had never heard of her before. Craighead is an old, wrinkly elf of a genius who lived for 20 years as a Benedictine nun in England and then became a hermit in the desert of New Mexico. She introduced herself by sharing some of her daily rituals. For example, she rises each day and goes outside, naked, to greet the rising sun by starting a fire of her own fire meeting fire. She then pours a glass of water, drinks half and pours half into the ground and puts a dab of salt, with all its life-giving flavor, on her tongue. She concludes with prayer, often to the Sacred Mother, at an altar shes set up in her home that includes Indian fetish animals. United Methodist rituals paled in comparison. I was charmed. Charm turned to challenge when Craighead began to show slides from throughout centuries of artwork that depicted a variety of themes. Showing a triptych of three basin-carrying women, she explained that life is a never-ending series of receiving, containing and pouring forth. Most of us have learned to take the time to receive anew from God before we pour forth what we have into the world. But only a few wise people take the time to contain those gifts the spirit provides to make them uniquely their own before scattering them before and behind us. Craighead then showed slides of the throne of God and many portrayals of Jesus sitting on Marys lap. One was of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who as the legend goes, asked Juan Diego three questions. Am I not your parent? the Virgin asked. Have I not put you in my lap? Do you need anything else? Can you really be in the lap of God and need more? Craighead asked. She then dismissed us to go forth and create. Some of us were hesitant. After all, we werent artists. Follow your curiosity, she advised. Be willing to pass through the threshold to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. So I spent the next hour shooting black and white photos of thresholds in the cathedral. They were everywhere. Even gladiolas, I discovered, had thresholds. That evening, I watched a video on creativity, which a coworker had lent me on the spur of the moment. I was expecting churchy images and words that were just a little bit bland. Dewitt Jones, a photographer for National Geographic, astonished me by providing a glimpse into his genius and his craft. Creativity, he said almost immediately, is the ability to see the ordinary as extraordinary. This was becoming a refrain. Using images of his daughter, Easter lily farms and Yosemite Falls as illustrations, he demonstrated the importance of perspective. But then he shared what he called the real key to creativity: theres more than just one right answer. The first right answer, Jones wrote on his Web site, (www.dewittjones.com) is just doing our job. Any of us can come up with one right answer. But, and heres the key, as we look for the next answer, we do so, not in terror, but comfortably knowing that it will be there waiting for us. Jones revealed that more than 400 rolls of film are shot for the average National Geographic article. Thats more than 14,000 images. Such abundance allows for the ability to risk and the opportunity to discover the extraordinary. The next week at work, I leafed through local church newsletters and read about New Covenant UMC in Cumberland preparing to dedicate a new stained glass window by world-renowned artist Hilmar Gottesthal and Lovely Lane UMC unveiling the historical heavens that will hang like a masterpiece over the congregation as it worships. These are churches that didnt shy away from creation, or from using the extraordinary to honor their Creator. Lately, Ive also been noticing people making small works of art out of their daily living. One by one, they surprise and delight me. I dont know what spiritual message this all delivers. Id like it to be much bigger than fortune-cookie faith. Although Im not certain what God has in mind, Im sure its going to be extraordinary. | 
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