Jenny Meldrum
When I was little my Dad, who was an amazing artist, taught me to hold a pencil even before a knife and fork. I remember drawing a lot and it didn’t really matter on what surface…. walls, floors and even a rather nice storage box in his study. He gave me my love of art and wisely supplied me with an endless amount of paper and pencils.
The home I grew up in was very creative and my parents thought nothing of making life-sized animals out of chicken wire and papier-mâché. My dad built a beautiful doll’s house for my mum after she had seen the ones at Windsor Castle and he then decided to construct a working grandfather clock out of carboard boxes and tubes, painting it to look like the real thing. He even managed to fool a friend of his who worked as a valuer for the local auction house!
My mind was always full of pictures and imaginings, whether that was putting on plays and ballets with my younger sister, immersing myself in writing, painting, singing or simply creating and acting out stories.
Personally, I learn best through creativity so when I became a mother, I was keen for my children to encounter the Father’s word for themselves, through stories or acting out passages from the Bible (which was always chaotic and highly amusing!). What emerged was the desire to feed children with truths about who God is and who they are in a way that connects them to the father heart of God.
And then through quite an ‘extraordinary’ turn of events, it just happened. In 2018 I was given the opportunity by Hodder Faith to write and illustrate a series of books called Little Moments for Children. It started with the kernel of an idea to write and illustrate one children’s prayer book. But after a whole year of thinking, dreaming, discussing and not sleeping much, the initial idea evolved and what emerged was a set of five illustrated books focused solely on our relationship with God the Father.
The challenge really came when Hodder Faith asked me if I could produce all the material in four months. The fact that I am not a mathematician worked in their favour and I eagerly said ‘yes, no problem’ only realising, with my daughter’s help, just how many illustrations I would have to produce each day to hit their deadline. I work from a little shed in the garden and I did have moments when I thought I had been swallowed up into an alternate universe where I lived in a grownup Wendy House, continuously painting and writing, rinsing my paint brushes in coffee and drinking the painting water! The experience was exhausting but definitely exhilarating.
The books were developed around five different themes: Peace, Kindness, Me, Promises and Wonder. On each page there is a Bible verse expressed in my own words alongside a colourful illustration. Their aim was to be exactly what it said on the cover; a little moment of quiet, away from screens, busyness and pressure, to connect with your child and connect your child to God’s love. Although the books were aimed at children it seems that all ages are enjoying them. My oldest reader is 92 years old! And even more excitingly perhaps, I have had feedback from people who have no particular faith who are also finding them inspirational.
My hope and prayer for these books is that whoever reads them will experience Father God’s love and the intimacy that He longs to have with each one of them, no matter what their age!
Together Magazine
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