Picking Through The Pieces

If this is your first visit to Wrapped Emotions, it would be helpful to read this post first.

I am beyond thrilled to present the first guest blogger at Wrapped Emotions. Phyllis has been hanging with me from collages to crayons since day one of WE. Her WE creations and words, as well as her blogs, always inspire me to think deeper and feel more. Phyllis has a project that I believe is going to unwrap quite a few emotions this week.
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A brief word about me: I am a proud married mom of 3 and a full-time rabbi at a congregation on the north shore of Chicago. I blog at Ima on (and off) the Bima about my family and Jewish life, and I also blog at Thoughts From Rabbi Phyllis, it's my "grown-up" blog where I try to comment on the Jewish world and the larger world. Come visit me anytime:-) I am so excited to be the first "guest blogger" here at Wrapped Emotions. So here goes...

So many of us who participate in the Wrapped Emotions projects write about our struggles to define ourselves, to put ourselves together, to harmonize the various parts of our lives -- our families, our faith, our work, our (fill in your blank here) -- we find ourselves so often pulled in different directions, fragmented.

There is a Kabbalistic teaching (Kabbalah is the study of Jewish mysticism) that when the world was created, God's light was contained within 10 vessels. These vessels were unable to contain the essence of God, and they shattered. The world in which we live is filled with the shattered remnants of these vessels. Our job, Jewish tradition teaches, is to gather these shards together to "repair the world," to make it whole again.

As I think about this teaching, I think about each of us, and how, in some ways, we have a breaking point. At some point, we can become too full and shatter, leaving ourselves to pick up the pieces of who we are. Or...the different pieces of who we are become disjointed from each other, causing us to feel fragmented within our own souls. What parts of you are fragmented, disjointed, separated?

So...go out and smash something...okay, just kidding. Actually, my challenge to you this week is to create something out of pieces, specifically, a mosaic. Mosaic is defined (Wikipedia, yay) as "an ancient and contemporary art form which uses individual pieces of materials placed together to create a unified whole. The materials commonly used are glass, ceramic, marble, pebble, mirror, shells and china." (The differences between mosaic and collage are that mosaics tend to keep the pieces individual, whereas a collage is more overlapping...)

But I don't care what you use (the ideas above, or paper or fabric is fine or even cookies if you'd like - the sky's the limit)...break something or cut something or separate something and then put it all back together into a new and beautiful whole. Breaking something changes it, perhaps irreparably, but it gives us a new opportunity, a new chance, a new beginning, to create something different and something whole.

What will you "break"? More importantly, what will you build? And how did it change you...

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Here are the specifics of weekly participation:

* Leisurely, happily create your project for the week.
* Post a photo or scan of it on your blog any time, any day Tuesday through Sunday with as many or as few words as you choose to accompany it...no words?...no problem...unless the week's prompt calls for words.
* If you so choose, and I love it when you choose, include the WE button in your post. If you choose not to post the button (and I will still love you), please link back to the current week's post at WE within the text of your post. Thank you. Grab the button code.
* Come to Wrapped Emotions and sign Mr. Linky with the direct link to your WE post for the week. Please don't make visitors scroll and search for your week's contribution by merely linking to your homepage.
* After signing Mr. Linky, please also leave a comment on the Mr. Linky post here at WE. I will be drawing for the weekly gift from comments.
* Use Mr. Linky to visit the blogs of fellow participants. You have all week to pop in and out to visit. Offer words of observation, sheer delight and when called for, words of support, encouragement or comfort.
* Check back each Monday to see if you won the previous week's gift, which will be chosen by random.org from the comments.
* The weekly prompt will be posted each Tuesday.

Questions or comments about this week's prompt...please let me hear from you on this post. Questions about what to have for dinner, anything...just ask. I love it when you talk to me.

*If you have completed your Picking Through The Pieces project, sign Mr. Linky here.