Saturday, January 7, 2012

something beautiful

Yeah, that's right. I'm calling this post the same thing as my blog TITLE. Betcha didn't know you could do that. But I just did.

I'd like to think of it like this: you know how sometimes an artist will name their CD the same thing as one of the tracks? (Tangent: do they even make CDs anymore?) This is kinda like that. Only I named the CD 4 years ago, and today I'm writing the title track.

Today my friend Diana came over to craft. Being a good houseguest and friend, she came bearing gifts. Gifts of the crafty persuasion. Like vintage postcards. Some random scrapbook circles in 'my colors.' A fabric tree project she'd given up on but thought I might like to rescue. And some hymnals.

 Hymnals, you see, are quite the crafter's dream. This crafter, anyway. The uses for those beautiful pages of music and timeless poetry are endless. And it turns out that she brought the very same hymnals that I grew up using (The United Methodist Hymnal, anyone?)...so this, in my opinion, is THE hymnal. At least I know where to find things. Ya know, before I cut them up and decoupage the crap out of them. (Note: I saved one of the hymnals to actually like, set on the piano and use. I have been wanting one of these for my own home for years! Then I felt less guilty tearing up the other one.)

And that's exactly what I did today.  
 A lot of tearing and Mod Podge-ing.

We're messy crafters, I guess. Look at that dining room. At one point I made the mistake of referring to it as the "craft room," and Matt let me know-- in no uncertain terms-- that it was a dining room and is not and will never be a craft room. Duly noted.

My craft isn't finished yet, so there are no pictures of a final project to brag on. But you can see what I was doing. Now I have a hymn-covered canvas.

But in order to make said canvas, I first had to find a bunch of suitable hymns to tear up. Sure, I could have just used the first 20 pages or whatever. But I'm going to be hanging this on the wall (or something). I wanted them to be hymns that I particularly love. So I hunted them down.


Which meant a lot of time spent flipping through the 962 page hymnal. And as I flipped, guess what I found?

JUST GUESS!!!!

Yep, yep it is!!


A hymn named after my blog!!!!!

Who knew?!!

Wanna know the lyrics? (Can you call the words to a hymn 'lyrics'? It sounds disrespectful.)

Something beautiful, something good;
all my confusion he understood;
all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife,
but he made something beautiful of my life.

That's it. The whole song. And also, ya know, my hope and my prayer. That's all.

To say I was slightly excited when I found this would be quite the understatement. Luckily, Diana was equally jazzed at my find.

And no, I did not tear that one up. That one's a framer. Or something. Something...beautiful, dare I say? Haha.

Anyway. And don't you fret-- of COURSE I am going to learn to play it on the piano and then make a music video of myself. And never post it here. You can just imagine how awesome it will be.

So, that's my happy story for the day. In addition to discovering the Best Hymn Ever, I did some Quality Crafting, enjoyed Hanging With a Friend (not to be confused with the game app of the almost-same name, which I also enjoyed), and successfully repainted (okay, watched Matt repaint) the laundry room. I'd call it a good day. And now...good night! 

12 comments:

  1. Jealous... pretty sure I will never find anything in a book titled, "The Blogivers" or "SLC Newlyweds". Why didn't anyone warn me in 2007 that I might still be blogging 5 years later and that perhaps I needed a better blog URL and title?!

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  2. Ha I was going to make the exact same comment as Allison- although a hymn called "Meet the Joiners" would surely be a real hit. Glad your crafting had an even deeper meaning last night!

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  3. Love "your" hymn! I'm sort of sad that my children don't see us sing hymns in church. We attend contemporary service, but I recently bought a book of hymns and a CD for the children to learn. There is just something about a good hymn or five.

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  4. Aaaaw! Your discovery during crafting gave me chills.
    God speaks to us in many ways. Keep walking on His path.
    :)

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  5. Oh, so neat! And that hymn is very beautiful and relevant!

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  6. Old Hymnals are the best. I've used mine for a thousand projects and now there are hardly any pages left.

    That is so cool you found that one hymn! coincidence I think not. Def. frame it.

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  7. Such a fun afternoon, and so love that you found that hymn!

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  8. We sang that song in my home church SO many times.. Can't believe you didn't know it!!

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  9. I always thought you named your blog AFTER this hymn! This has always been one of my favorites hymns ever out of the 'ole UMC hymnal... such a fun craft idea, too!

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  10. Ok, I KNOW "Jaya Ho" made it on to that canvas! What could be better than remembering our moving rendition of that lovely piece back in A-town?

    Also - I'm just saying, if you feel the need to be extra crafty & want to decorate a real, live UM minister's office with something from that hymnal...I know one (uhm...me?) who would not be sad about displaying a Bates original. (Though, i'm not sure Jaya Ho is my heart song, so you can keep that one at your place...)

    Love you!

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  11. i love the idea of using sheet music in crafts! and very cool that you found this hymn, erika.

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