About

Carol Harrison B.Ed. is a storyteller, speaker, writer, teacher,and facilitator who loves to share from her heart one on one or with any size of group.

You can reach Carol via:
email: carol@carolscorer.ca
phone: 306 230 5808

twitter: @CarolHarrison6

Recent Posts

What’s Your Gift, Talent or Ability?

talent6

I believe that each person has unique abilities, skills, talents and gifts. Sometimes they are easy to spot but at other times they seem to be hidden in the shadows of pressing matters and the tough puzzle pieces of life.

There are things I know how to do reasonably well but not at a level of great talent or skill. Many years of piano lessons as a young girl mean I know how to play a piano – at least for my own enjoyment. As a teacher, in younger grades, I could play well enough to accompany my class while they sang a simple Christmas song. In several very small churches we attended over the years, my piano playing helped in a morning service or for a funeral but only because I had learned to play the old hymns. I have known people who played the piano with great skill. They went on to be concert pianists or serve in large places with their abilities.

For years I wanted to be like someone else. I wanted my skills in music to rival those of gifted musicians I met. At times I wanted to sing like a recording artist or draw and paint like others I had met. I must admit I envied homemaking abilities. I wanted to be able to sew like my mother or keep house like she and her sisters did and made it appear effortless. I spent so much time longing for what I thought I wanted and did not have that I could not or would not admit to possessing any special ability, skill talent or gift myself.

I realize it can be easier to see the abilities other people possess. Watching them and trying to emulate them helps us learn and enjoy but does it also cloud our ability to discover what we have been gifted with? In my case I believe it did for a long time. My “gift envy” caused me to doubt myself. The negative, inside voice, downplayed anything I attempted to do. I felt like there were no puzzle pieces marked with ability, skill, gift or talent in the pile that belonged to me.

gifts8

It took me years to learn that all of us have abilities. They show up in different ways but they are there. Some need to be cultivated and allowed to blossom. Ephesians 2: 10 says we are God’s workmanship – his masterpiece. He has created us as unique individuals and given us what we need. All the pieces are there and ready to be discovered.

god's masterpiece

What are your gifts, talents, abilities or skills? How are you nurturing and using them?

Creative Puzzle Pieces

creativity words

What type of creative puzzle pieces show up in your Life? There are times I want to block out the rest of my responsibilities and simply do something creative. But the negative voice in my head questions my ability to try new things, create anything worth while or makes me feel guilty for spending the time in a creative endeavour. Yet creativity, in various forms and medium, form part of our makeup. They are part of our uniqueness.

At a conference at the end of September I listened to a workshop leader, Shelley Hitz, from Colorado Springs in her workshop ‘The Art of Prayer’. She encouraged us to explore watercolours, markers, pencil crayons, and coloured pens to add interest to our journal pages, and simply enjoy the journey of trying something new.
She makes bookmarks, postcards with sayings and takes sermon notes using key words, colour and simple line drawings.

I enjoy the artwork of friends and family members. I love to look at well done photographs and read interesting stories. My grandson, Nathaniel, creates beautiful wood projects. His sister, Arianna, is an artist. My son-in-law Bruce works magic with a camera and his girls Kathryn and Victoria, as well as my daughter explore various forms of creative projects from photography to drawing and painting or creating with cloth or yarn. I marvel at some of the pieces that have been produced from these family members.

I do not think of myself as an artist, although I have always loved to doodle as I listen. It helps me focus. I have tried crocheting but not making up my own patterns. I write as an outlet for the creativity puzzle piece in my life. I play with paper and embellishments when I scrapbook family stories. Yet this workshop urged me to explore outside my comfort zone. It intrigued me and I signed up for her Creative Adventure Group.

Following what others are doing, commenting on their posts and pictures and learning in a workshop does not mean I am stepping out of the familiar avoidance of trying something new. I pushed myself to attempt some lettering last week and got brave enough to post it on the group for others to see and comment on. Then I took another step and used it as a facebook post and now on this blog.

IMG_6204

I think I will try other prompts she provides or more lettering that matches up with my writing, my blogs or as a way of adding a different dimension to my journal. I might even add some bookmarks to give when people buy a book or use a personally done postcards to send a note of encouragement to someone.

Life does seem like a bunch of random puzzle pieces. Some might fit together easily but others do not appear to have a place. Yet together they make up our lives. Creativity is one of those pieces. How does it manifest itself in your life? Are you ready to try something new, either for the sake of attempting it or because it might just fit with other things you are doing?

Puzzle Piece of Joy

joy1

Joy and happiness – are they really the same? I love to search out meanings of words. The dictionary defines happiness as the state of being happy so I looked up happy which is defined as

showing pleasure or contentment

Synonyms for happy include words like cheery and jovial.
Joy is defined as:

a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

Synonyms include delight, jubilation, triumph
Yet there is also the context that joy is a good feeling in the soul and I checked a Biblical definition of joy.

Joy is an emotion that is acquired by the anticipation or expectation of something great and wonderful

When I read in James 1:2 that we should have joy in all our trials I find that joy and happiness are no longer the same. When my youngest daughter was born and lay in a coma, fighting for her life with a five percent chance to live I was not delighted or jubilant. I had no great pleasure in the situation nor was I happy and contented. I prayed, I cried and I found the shadows of this puzzle piece in my life to be deep, dark and frightening. I questioned why this was happening even while I believed that God could heal my baby.

Yet while I cried and felt deep pain and sorrow, I also felt a joy – an anticipation of the amazing things God could and would do. This joy had no basis in what was happening around me. Circumstances did not dictate whether I felt joy. To me this helped me, after my baby survived, the meaning of having joy in the midst of trials. When I gave the horrible circumstance, the uncertainty of life to God, he gave me a peace that was beyond anything I had ever felt and with that came a joy – an anticipation of something beyond human expectations or abilities.

broken heart

Joy that only God could supply helped heal my broken heart during this tough time in my life. Tears still flowed. I still felt an impatience for life to be more like what I had expected. I still hated to see my little one struggle to do things that most of us take for granted. She is now thirty-five years old. Everything she can do is medially impossible. God granted a miracle but it did not look anything like I expected. There have been health concerns, seizures, learning disabilities and a longing for acceptance and friends that has not always come. I am unhappy about these times but the outward circumstances do not dictate the joy inside only the outward happiness which is dependent on situations.

Have you found the puzzle piece of joy in your life? How does God help you through the unhappy times in life?

Puzzle Pieces of Family & Community

family 3
community2

Our lives have many pieces to them. At times they blur together in a massive pile, waiting to be sorted out. At other times they blend together with similar colours, textures, designs. Two puzzle pieces of all our lives are family and community. They are combinations of both the light and shadows of our picture. Both can offer support, great memories, encouragement but they can also introduce conflict, struggles and despair.

I often tried to get my father to tell me more about his early life, growing up on the farm. His usual reply, “I don’t remember.” Yet this man could tell me every vehicle he ever owned including the year he bought it, the colour, make and model. He told me about every semi truck he drove during his career. As a youngster and into my teens he took me to visit friends and relatives that had been part of his entire life. He showed me where he lived but details of life he avoided talking about.

A few years ago I took him to visit his sister. Both had lost their spouses and shared a deep shadow of life in common. My aunt started to talk about their lives as children and teens. She would start a story and then say, “You remember that don’t you?”
He often just shook his head, much to her dismay. Finally he joined in sharing some memories. There were a few humorous ones but many deep shadows of a sick father, hard times on the farm and my dad having to be the “man of the family” at a young age made me realize how he had blocked those tough things from his mind. Yet they were part of who he was and they helped shape who he became as a man, husband, father and grandfather.

In the months before my mother passed away she decided to share some stories from her childhood and youth. I had heard bits and pieces. Her sister begged her to record more details. She told us she did not remember many details but when she finally began the telling of the story, I discovered how much she truly remembered. She had many shadows and hard times but she also experienced the community of extended family, community and her church. I heard of the hard work she needed to do and the year long adventure she experienced as well. Everything made her into the kind, compassionate, quiet person I knew.

family memories

Family memories include the community to which that family belonged or various ones they were involved with throughout their lives. Memories include the good, the bad, and the ugly along with the beautiful, tender and enjoyable.

My children and grandchildren are now asking me to share my memories – both good and bad. I have to pause and remember how much I wanted to learn my parents’ and grandparents’ stories and have begun to share my own puzzle pieces of life.

What family memories do you like to share? Which ones would you rather bury deeply, forgetting they are part of what has made you the person you are today?

Light in Our Puzzle of Life

puzzle light

The beauty of light in any picture we look at, the finished puzzle piece gives us something positive to focus on. If you are like me, your eye is drawn to the bright spots in art, a picture and most importantly in life. Too often I focus on the negative voices in my head reminding me of the problems, what has not been completed or what could have been done better. Yet I long for the positive and if I am totally honest, for unattainable perfection. I do not think I am alone in this – it is likely more common than I realize.

But life is made up of not only the shadows, the tough times, but fun events and positive memorable moments. I love to look back at photos of my children or grandchildren when they were younger and remember the fun they could have with an old stool, an overturned toybox or banging on pots and pans. Simple, everyday items but with their imaginations those things became part of an adventure and brought happiness to the children and those of us watching them.

An old stool made by my grandfather for my folks had been recovered several times. By the time it lived at my house it had seen many children sit on it, play beside it and adults use it as a footstool to rest their tired feet. My grandchildren used to turn it over and climb inside. Gripping two of the legs it soon became their airplane, car, truck or boat depending on where their imaginations took them. I smiled and sometimes laughed out loud as I watched each of them take their turns with this stool. It always annoyed them and amused me when they finally grew big enough they no longer fit into the opening.

happy story

Now I watch my grandchildren, most of whom are teens or young adults and see other ways they express the light in their lives. It brings a smile to my face when I see them try something new, learn to cope with new situations and overcome fears. I love the hugs, the smiles and times together. One of them is an artist, another makes amazing furniture pieces from wood and others follow their interests. Yet the bright and light spots are not all that make up their lives.

We love the light parts of the puzzle pieces of our lives. It is good to cherish those memories and enjoy the brightness of the present. How do we preserve these for ourselves so we can look at them during the times of shadows? How do we let others know they brighten our day?

The Beauty of the Shadows

shadows

I grew up in the city and learned to take the bus across the city to kindergarten which was not in the school system at the time. My grandmother lived down that same street but too far for a little girl to walk. But the bus took me right to her place. I continued to ride the bus to church, to youth and later to university. Now, with how society has changed, I hate the thought of my teenage grandchildren riding the bus around the city. Maybe it is simply my fear of the shadows, the scary parts of life.

As a young girl coming home from girls’ club at church by bus, I hated if I missed the first stop I could get off at. Only one block later a second opportunity to get off the bus and walk home meant a walk of the same distance but a different route. This second option always seemed scarier to me. The shadows between street lights appeared deeper and more threatening. A park across the street had deeper shadows yet, cast by the tall trees. Tall trees lined both sides of the street in front of my home, their branches reaching together in the middle of the street. The street lights glow barely cut through the gloom of the late fall or winter evening because of the tangle of branches.

Shadows formed part of my route home. Nothing bad ever happened. Neighbours knew each other and watched out for the children of the community. Yet my imagination played tricks as the shadows danced in the beams of light.

Now I have grown up, moved around and lived in various communities. I have experienced times of light and shadow and the shadows still frighten me, especially the darkness of a tough time. shadows4

I have watched my children struggle with childhood injury, illness and growing pains both physical and emotional. I have wondered if I might really get my next breath when the asthma is at its worst and walk with my husband through a battle with cancer. There have been dark days, tear filled days and times of anger at the unfairness of life at that moment. But along with those hard memories come ones where I see God’s provision. Times He has provided someone to walk alongside and encourage, or answered prayer in an unexpected manner. The shadows of death and destruction, the shadows of hurt and frustration, and the shadows of uncertainty as we pray and long for a positive outcome, a ray of light and hope touch each one of us.

How has God brought a ray of sunshine into your shadows?
shadows1

Light & Shadows

shadow 7

Every puzzle picture, every photo, and images we see each day contain elements of light and shadow. Our lives also contain both of these – light and shadows. Yet as we look at the picture of the finished puzzle the shadows are an intricate part of making the entire picture less boring. A flat, all one colour picture with no shading, no shadows, no variance of colour does not attract or keep our attention.

photo clip art

Looking at this sunset photo we realize that both shadow and light are needed, along with the colours to provide us with details, with depth and with something to catch our eye.

In life we equate the light to the happy times, the good things and the positive memories. The shadows are those tough times, the dark moments we would rather not think about and wish we never had to live through. Yet the Bible tells us that part of our growth in life involves suffering trials – tough stuff, bumps in the road that may seem like mountains.

I Peter 1: 6-8 says,

In this ( salvation) you greatly rejoice, even though nowyou have to suffer various trials in order that the genuinesness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tried by firemay be found to result in praise, glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen,, you love and in whom, though you do not see him now, you believe and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

In James 1: 2-4 we read,

My brothers ( and I say sisters also) count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials knowing that the trying of your faith develops patience. But let patience perfect its work that you may be perfect nd complete, lacking nothing.

Oh how I hate to be patient at times, especially in the tough times of life. I want to have those times over quickly and yet God has a plan and a purpose. Even when, in the middle of the hard things, the shadows of life, I can not understand what purpose they might have in my life, I need to trust God and rely on Him.

Often, looking back, when the light once again shines and good times or easier times have arrived, I see things I have learned. I still do not enjoy those hard times, the bumps and pieces of the puzzle that do not seem to fit and yet I can rejoice that God has not changed in His love to me.

shadow-quote-9-picture-quote-1

We all have shadows in our lives – some deeper and darker than others. How do we keep those depths of darkness from overshadowing the bright spots of today and the sunshine of tomorrow? How can we allow ourselves to learn the lessons, grasp the intensity of loss and focus on the surrounding beauty? For myself, I can not do it on my own. I must trust God, the one who knows the beginning from the end of my journey but it is not always easy.

May we all remember that the light and shadows are both part of the big picture.

Surviving the Bumps in the Road

difficulty-clipart-tough-times-roller-held-pace-difficulty-little-d-man-concept-facing-difficult-challenging-31311274

Sometimes the bumps in the road, the tough times of our lives feel like a huge weight we drag behind us. We struggle to see the positives and wonder if we will ever get out of the difficulty. I have experienced a number of huge bumps. I wondered if the puzzle pieces of my life really could fit together to form a beautiful picture. I realize I am not alone in this feeling. Everyone experiences these situations at various times in their lives. They might be financial, health issues, relationship problems or a combination of things.

11db155dbbb70a326660c6d4fbadf932

Let me share a story of one of those tough moments in my life. My husband, almost one year old daughter and I had spent Christmas with my family and now arrived at his family for the rest of our Christmas vacation from our teaching jobs in an isolated Northern Saskatchewan community. My mother-in-law offered to babysit so Brian and I could celebrate New Year’s Eve with some of his friends. We both looked forward to this date but as the afternoon eased its way into the evening Lori started coughing more. Her first cold, I thought and tried to comfort her the best I knew how as a young mom.
She fell asleep and I put her to bed, but her breathing just did not seem right. We checked on her a number of times and she continued to stay asleep but her breathing got worse. Finally we decided we needed to cancel our plans and take her to the nearest hospital, thirty miles away.

We rang in the New Year with the doctor admitting our baby to the hospital with croup. I had never even heard of this but I learned quickly that the safest place for my little one was in the oxygen tent with medical staff close by to help. Hospital regulations prohibited parents from staying and with a heavy heart we left the hospital.

The next day we returned to find our daughter so much better and I hoped the doctor would let us take her home but he refused, unconvinced the worst had passed. Lori hated to stay in the hospital and I hated to leave her there but felt I had no choice. I prayed for God to heal her. I begged to take her home. The answer seemed to be wait.

Returning the next day, Lori had improved even more but once again the doctor refused to sign her release. The report from the night before left me stunned. The nurses had to call the doctor in the middle of the night as my baby’s condition deteriorated. He came and also ran out of options. The nurse said his words were, “I sure hope she has praying parents. There’s nothing I can do. It’s too risky to transfer her to a larger hospital.”

A few days later and a transfer to a large hospital to double check that the worst had indeed passed and we were able to take out baby out of the hospital. We celebrated her first birthday at my Grandmother’s home in Saskatoon before flying to our own home in the far north of our province. I look back at the pictures of her birthday celebration and see the drawn face of my little one and realize that God provided a miracle which kept her in our lives.

images2

We each have a story. We all have puzzle pieces, tough pieces in our lives that we do not want or know how we will survive. Often it is not until we look back and see how God has worked, protected, provided that we begin to have a flicker of hope and a better understanding that only God can provide the answer.

What story or stories do you have about how God has worked to put the tough pieces together to form part of the picture of your life?

Puzzle of Tough Times

hard time

Hard times, the tough events and circumstances of life plague each one of us at some point in our lives. Questions plaque us at various times in our lives. Questions like, Why?, why now? or Why me? When we can not see the light at the end of the tunnel we question how long this can last or how we can possible make it through. Sometimes we see it as a result of something beyond our control or poor decisions we made prior. Yet, I know from experience, that often we are puzzled in the situation we find ourselves experiencing.

bumpy road

Sometimes my path in life looks like a never ending bumpy road. I climb to the top of one hill, hoping for a plateau only to be driven down into the valley, looking ahead to another hill. On a trip the variance of road heights, the curves, the changes in scenery make the trip more enjoyable but in life I often long for an easier path. Last summer my asthma flared up. Stress had been a huge factor as I watched my father’s health decline aw well as waited with my youngest daughter for surgery to repair and ankle that offered constant pain and decreased mobility. This daughter has some special needs and with the increase in pain and decrease in ability came a loss of independence. My nebulizer did not seem to touch the asthma. I wheezed, gasped for breath and coughed up phlegm until my ribs hurt. I needed to breathe. I needed to speak at Bible camp. Why did it flare up now and so much that nothing seemed to work to control it?

The bumps in the road seemed huge and insurmountable. Looking back I see God’s hand in the situations I puzzled about. I went to camp, ended up in the emergency room of the local hospital for multiple treatments and Prednisone. Yet as I spoke, with such decreased breathing ability, no one except myself and my husband heard it. God provided what I needed at that moment to share His Word with the campers and staff. He provided in the evening and the morning, yet in between my husband wondered if I would get my next breath. While I was at the emergency room, the main camp building caught fire. God kept me away from the smoke, which in my weakened condition could have been fatal.

trust in the lord

I do not understand the bumpy road, the tough times in life any more than you likely do but I know that God is in control and I need to trust Him. He sees the big picture. This offers me hope, sometimes in little flickers and other times in a flood of light.

I pray that you too will find hope in the puzzling tough times of life.

Acceptance

acceptance 1

The dictionary defines acceptance as

the action of being received as adequate or suitable, typically to be admitted to a group.

But acceptance can also mean the act of taking something which is offered as in a job or accepting an apology.

God has made us with a desire to be accepted. There are times we wait for others to invite us to join a group, hang out with them or simply recognize we want to be their friend. Children wait to be picked for the team, asked to join a study group or find out if they are accepted to the college of their choosing. But the longing for acceptance does not leave when we reach the magic age which declares us to be an adult.

puzzle 10

I have the privilege of being part of a group of women. This group has accepted me, as I am and encourages the gifts they see in me, even when I can not see them myself. We laugh together, sometimes over the simplest little things or antics of our grandchildren. At other times we share each others sorrows and grief. We’ve taken meals to one of our group who has just had surgery or simply hung out together. At times we pull in others to our group for a season or organize an event such as a salad supper to invite ladies from our church, friends, family and others who we might have just met.

I often have a busy schedule and sometimes feel I am at the edge of the group, that I have missed many times of getting together when the puzzle pieces of my life scatter before me. Yet these lovely ladies continue to pull me in, love me and accept me.

In God’s Word Jesus tells us we are loved by God. It also reminds us multiple times in the New Testament to encourage one another, be kind to one another, forgive one another and bear each other’s burdens. In other words – accept each other even as Christ accepts us when we come to Him.

20150206_194524birthday with friends

Who are your circle of friends? Are you still looking and longing for acceptance? There is one place we can go and that is to God.