The Golden Sparrow

Don't you think we were all meant to give birth? 

I mean, not just to squeaking, rooting newborns. And not just by women of a certain child-bearing age and ability. I mean, we are ALL meant to give birth. 

This Sunday my pastor talked about the fact that Jesus was a carpenter- a creator by trade. Jesus lived a sawdust-covered life for 30 years before he started preaching and teaching, and those three decades of honing a skill and a business cannot be ignored. Whether or not you believe in one True God, you cannot deny that there is a pull in each of us to work and live for a passion.  Surgeons and landscapers alike need the chance to explore what burns a light inside. If you're missing that, you will feel the slow dulling of your colors as you allow time, or fear, or apathy, to fade what is good in you. That pull to create is an echo of your Creator, a song that vibrates all the way through your bones.   

My pastor is an artist, and our church is full of people who are committed to the sanctity of creativity. Obviously that strikes a cord with my heart, but I believe it is a truth that holds itself steady in any heart: we are meant to create. To birth. To bring forth what has not been, and to contribute to an ever shifting landscape of problems and needs in a complex world. We are all meant to give birth, whether to inventions or paintings or music or friendships or presentations or films or new businesses or comprehensive spread sheets or fresh bread. If we are created in God's image, the Ultimate Creative Thinker, then aren't we creators as well? 

I create with words. 

My friends Val and Audrey and Breanna create with cameras. 

My brother Robert creates with ideas.

My friend Josh creates by building bridges. 

And this is my friend Hollie. She creates with a needle and thread. 

The Golden family, Tommy and Hollie and their twin boys, Parker and Connor.

(Let's start with the obvious, which is that I could dedicate an entire blog post to simply talking about this family's hair. Perhaps because a few of us over here at the Horney casa are hair challenged ... but I basically drool over every picture that Hollie posts, because of her beautiful hair and the twins' luscious locks. Even Tommy has great hair! I mean, what the hell, man!) 

The Golden twins were born a month before Clara, and I connected with Hollie over social media because I was so fascinated at the thought of bringing home two babies. We knew each other slightly in former lives, but our friendship didn’t take shape until this last year. I love seeing Hollie be a mom. She mothers with intention, with passion, and with an abiding desire to raise her boys well. Whenever I would have a hard day with Clara, especially in those first six months, I would stop my pity party and say a prayer for Hollie, because I knew she was fighting the same battles—but with two babies instead of one. It kept my day in perspective, let’s just put it that way.

Hollie also keeps a blog, and she recently shared this post concerning what’s been happening in her life lately. I loved it. I loved the vulnerability and the tender ache behind her words, and I loved the message she has taken to heart about knowing who she is; not just as wife, or mother, but as woman. 

This world, this awful, beautiful, gut-wrenching world we live in, can take its toll. 

Maybe you are fighting some of these same exhausting battles. 
Maybe you are lost in the daily struggle, and the dim reflection of your true self is a hazy reminder of who you once wanted to be. 


I think that the cry for these familiar battles lies here: 

We are all meant to birth. Your DNA is a complicated pattern of possiblities that deserve exploration. Your hands and feet and mind were made to create. 
Believe me. We need you. 

 Hollie, my amazing friend with the beautiful hair and the handsome twins, is finding her way back to that burning light inside, the one that illuminates her deepest self, the saturated colors of what makes her so lovely.
As she puts it, “As I slowly take back pieces of myself, I am resting in the comfort of God's love.” 

What pieces of you need taken back? How is your heart? 

I'm writing this post about Hollie for a few reasons. 

• Because I wonder how many of us need encouraged to push through the pain of creation and give birth to something new in our lives.
• Because Hollie makes wonderful things from her wonderful imagination. 
• Because I know you’re buying crappy kid stuff made in Bangladesh and China instead of perfect items hand-sewn with care and talent at a kitchen table in Oregon.

 Hollie runs a shop called The Golden Sparrow, and I am an addicted customer. As you're rounding out your holiday gifts, take a look at her clothes and accessories. Buy some. Support a small business, support the business of finding yourself again, and support the notion that we all have something important to contribute. 

If anything, support their assuredly astronomical shampoo bills, something we know nothing about over here :)

-Jessie 

A few of my favorite items from The Golden Sparrow!
-baby leggings
-infinity scarves for babies and toddlers
-headbands
-infinity scarves for women
-bowties for little boys
-sparkly bows