#Chalktalk
I don’t really consider myself a creative person. I have always loved photography and that is about as artsy as I get. I envy those that can draw and paint. I was not blessed with those skills at all.
Charles had at some point started writing a question that related to worship on the chalkboard in his chicken scratch forever ago. I had this brilliant idea (said in my very sarcastic voice) last year to get Kethryn (one of our home from college youths) to use her artistic ability (and really SHE has it) to write the question in some sort of cool chalkboard-y way that would be much more pleasant on the eyes than the ALMOST non-legible scribble that the congregation might have felt a little tortured by.
It really was a brilliant idea that lasted that summer and then she left for college and left the chalkboard duties behind. I had hoped that we would find some other very talented or even slightly talented youth to step up and take over these duties. Well, it didn’t quite happen and we couldn’t go back to the way it was before.
I came to the conclusion that it was now MY job to make sure that the board was done every week. It was a hard one to accept, because refer to the first paragraph. Thankfully, Pinterest is a thing and I jumped on that bandwagon back when you had to be invited to join, as proven by my hundreds of pins. Seriously, Pinterest and I are tight. We go way back. I took it, the chalkboard, as a challenge. Refer to paragraph 1, again. I have googled and pinned a few, read “numerous”, handwriting and chalkboard ideas. Each week, I take the question and find something that I can copy or get inspiration from and do my best to be “creative” with it and put something pretty on the board that people will pay attention to and might be inclined to stop and answer.
I think I get a little better each week, except for those weeks that I am in a crunch to do our weekly #Chalktalk with Charles, because, hey, I film those, too (LIVE on Facebook around 2ish most Thursdays https://www.facebook.com/wrightschapelumc/), or when I am trying not to annoy our preschool director too long because her office shares that wall. Drawing is not my thing, but I admit that I like pulling out the big box full of chalk in a rainbow of colors and staring at a newly washed board. What I like even more, though, are the answers that adults and children leave on the board. I think it is a good conversation starter, a conversation that sometimes can be a little heavier or even a little lighter. It’s one that you can casually have with friends or go in more depth with your family. Sometimes we get more serious answers from the adults and silly answers from the kids. It’s all good, though, because at least it might spark some conversations.
I hope that you have at least noticed or will notice the chalkboard and maybe will leave an answer to the question each week. And, hey, if YOU feel like it, get a little creative. If you miss it in person, you can find it on instagram (@WrightsChapel) or in our weekly newsletter (sign up below).
