Cookie Cutter Christmas
Around a certain time in most peoples lives, you hear words to this effect "I don't want a cookie cutter {fill in the blank]. They're all the same." The specific item could be a house, a car, or even a life. This comment is usually connected to a desire to be seen as unique, to be something new, better, different, more exciting. And there is a time in life when this is a healthy expression, signifying a growing up and a growing into your own individual personhood, separating from the family life that you were raised in. It can signal a growing awareness of the possibilities of your own life, as distinct from those of your parents.
But there's also a risk that this can be taken to the extreme. In baking, a cookie cutter gives shape to the formless mass of dough. What starts out as big blobs becomes a shaped surface that can be decorated into a thing of beauty, into something that has meaning and communicates to all who see it. What this series shows, through portraying a dear little mouse engaged in various activities, is that, in fact, we need a healthy dose of the "cookie cutter" in our lives. We need those boundaries that push us into place, those healthy disciplines that form us. And what we find, even inside those boundaries that are perceived as rigid, is actually freedom to develop and enjoy so many of the "little" things in life. It's one of the paradoxes of the Christian life - one gains freedom through discipline, one gains life by giving it away.
Each of the ornaments below answers the question: What's so great about living a "little" life?
But there's also a risk that this can be taken to the extreme. In baking, a cookie cutter gives shape to the formless mass of dough. What starts out as big blobs becomes a shaped surface that can be decorated into a thing of beauty, into something that has meaning and communicates to all who see it. What this series shows, through portraying a dear little mouse engaged in various activities, is that, in fact, we need a healthy dose of the "cookie cutter" in our lives. We need those boundaries that push us into place, those healthy disciplines that form us. And what we find, even inside those boundaries that are perceived as rigid, is actually freedom to develop and enjoy so many of the "little" things in life. It's one of the paradoxes of the Christian life - one gains freedom through discipline, one gains life by giving it away.
Each of the ornaments below answers the question: What's so great about living a "little" life?