To Teach A Child to Pray
At this most desperate time, we must realign.  Have we been off-centered or out of focus? Have we been distracted?

In this hour, let's take inventory of what we are doing to shine a light in such darkness,  

More than anything, are we investing in the next generation? To give them hope.  A future.

This morning in youth church, we made prayer journals.  Using a simple cover design, I printed off 4 different ones and let the kids choose.  Then, we folded plain white paper, hole punched through the fold and threaded simple ribbon through and tied.  

It was incredibly simple.  We gave the kids time to use crayons and markers on their covers and sign their names.  We will be keeping these at church to use each week.  

This simple act might seem a little naive. 

Yes, I have simplified the act of praying so that kids can benefit. 

Prayer is communication to Heaven.  We are teaching kids that it doesn't have to be audible.  It doesn't have to be formal.  It can have words, doodles, lists or even lyrics and psalms.  Yes, we can pray the psalms.  We can pray by writing out our favorite worship song and doodling around it.  We can make a list of people we love and concerns we have.  Or we can write it out like a letter.  

Our group can all write the exact same thing in our prayer journals or we can all write individually, in silence.  

We need to teach kids that the God in Heaven cares for them.  That he is listening and he is capable of hearing what is on their hearts without them ever saying anything.  

Prayer is a gift to us as well as a direct line to Heaven. What are you doing today to shine in the very dark darkness?   

"To simplify before you understand the details is ignorance.
To simplify after you understand the details is genius."
James Clear





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Meet Jessica Blankenship

 
I am an art teacher, a preacher's wife, a mom, an artist and a total nerd.   Since 2009, I have been teaching art full time and directing summer art camps for kids. 

My goal is to inspire, to speak LIFE.  

The Artful Gathering, in all its various facets, is a place for quality time. A place for gathering.  Inspiration through art, conversation and being together. Meaningfulness.  Togetherness in a beautiful space.  

I’m talking about quality of life: life that is enriched while being real and honest. 

Intentional memory-making.   
Intentional design. 
Intentional moments amid the fast-paced world in which we live.  

I believe quality of life means searching out old-time wisdom and applying it to life in the current day, even when it is hard to know how to do that. 

I want to see you experiencing life beyond modern hustle and full-speed survival mode. 

Sprinkled in all that, you'll find that I value simplicity, kids, art and creativity, living naturally, spirituality, and... calm. Calm is my superpower. Well, maybe my superpower is actually management of kids and messy art supplies! 

My Bachelor of Arts in Art Education is from the College of Mt. Saint Joseph, 2009. I have been teaching art and summer art camps ever since! My art camps were originally modeled after an internship at the Taft Museum of Art during college.  From there, I built a successful continuous summer art camp that has repeated every summer.  It now has a waitlist and is very popular! I used to have to rent a venue each summer to teach the camps but now I have a beautiful space called The Artful Gathering! 

My Master's degree is in Gifted Education from Northern Kentucky University, 2014.  

I have a love of learning that I generously pass on to my students in every project. You will see lots of cross-curricular lessons from me as well as mixed media! I believe art is incredibly therapeutic as well as educational and playful!  My newest training is art therapy! I am excited to implement all the wonderful facets of art for the community and beyond. 
 
Overall, I believe that education is a gift.  Learning ought to be a joyful endeavor and all lessons should be play-infused for maximum effects.  Yes, I have my research to back up the FUN! I wrote extensively about this "invitation to joy" through play and art in a book collaboration called "On Earth As In Heaven", available on Amazon.  

I can't wait to share my love of all these things at The Artful Gathering, LLC at 200 W. Plane ST. Bethel, OH 45106!

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