J is for Journey

What fortuitous timing! An A to Z of Me has reached J is for journey, and Carolyn Dube's *free* workshop - Use Your Words - started with the word 'journey' as well. So this post is a twofer.

Journey. What does that conjure up?

For me there was the journey from one side of the world to the other with all the uprooting that that entailed. I'm not really one for travelling so that was a biggie for me.

There is also the journey of faith. I like the map fragment on this page because it shows two paths going the same way and intertwining. There are people we journey with like that. We are both going in the same direction but the path is slightly different. Of course, there are also people who start out in the same place as us, end up in the same place, but took a completely different route. And that is the fun of journeying. In faith we journey together with the whole Church, our paths crossing and relationships being built. Journeying together is important. When one falls, there is someone there to help them up. When one is in need there is someone there to supply what is lacking. We can advise from our own experience and learn from the journey of another.

Who are you journeying with?

Into the wilderness...

I've had this background sitting in my current journal for a while now. When I looked at it yesterday the two pictures of plant cells just looked like tired eyes to me, so I flipped the book around and did a portrait orientation double-page spread. 

These tired eyes are just how I'm feeling at the moment, so I put them into a face. They seemed to be looking off to the side, so what could they be looking at? My daughter had a pile of kirigami that she has been doing lying around on the table. One of them looked just like a sun to me so I took that but it melted into the background of the page a bit too well, hence the darker pink behind it.

I've been feeling a little flat lately - tired, the heat sapping my energy a bit. I've also just realised that after a victory in my life, I'm back out in the wilderness again, building the beginnings of growth for whatever is next. The tired woman under the hot sun just described that beautifully for me. (Even if she does have an Adam Ant stripe across her nose - which probably just shows my age :) )

So where are you on the journey? Climbing the mountain? Deep in the valley? Crossing the desert? Or resting beside the still waters? Wherever you are, relax into it and don't resist. Each place has something to teach us.

Fall fearless and fly - no. 1

Well, Carolyn and Jessica really threw us in at the deep end for the first challenge in this season. The three parts of the challenge were:

1 Headline - Inventing the Future: where do you want to be 5, 10, 15 years from now? What's holding you back/propelling you forward? What do you need to do/stop doing to create that future?

2 Colour - warm palette

3 Quote - "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." Abraham Lincoln

Well, the colours were no problem. I started with those and then was stumped. The page sat for a while as I thought about it. Then I spotted a darker arrow shape in middle of the page. I enhanced the colour with some ink. Now I was starting to get somewhere.

Then I thought about time moving on so the numbers came next across the top of the page.

I knew I wanted 'now' on one side of the arrow and 'then' on the other but it took a while for the image to come to me - a flower in bud and then open. I have been on a journey recently where I feel like a bud that has just started to open. I am looking forward to the time when I am fully blooming. For that to happen I need to 'let go and let God'. Thankfully, as Abraham Lincoln noted, the future comes one day at a time so the journey of change to become all that I can be doesn't have to happen overnight. The quote went in around the arrow.

(Apologies for the photo - I took half a dozen, but the colours are quite subtle and the details don't show up so well)

Now I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to. Looking forward to the next one :)

holy journey

Sometimes you get to journey the furthest by sitting still.

For a while now it felt like I was resting, waiting, sitting still. Now I find that I have actually been on a long journey.

A spiritual journey.

An internal journey.

By sitting still and waiting, not rushing into all sorts of things that I could be doing, an internal fear has been smashed and I have moved forward.

Are you taking time to sit still?

paths

I've been thinking a lot about paths lately. I'm approaching an ending of sorts and am looking for the next direction to go in. I think I'll have a better idea after Monday. On Monday I'm giving my testimony at a Gideons International dinner. This is a huge deal for me. I hate standing up in front of crowds and speaking - I blush, stammer a little sometimes, lose my place, and generally feel incredibly nauseous. But I have come to a place in my journey where I know I have to do this; that the Lord has changed something in me and I need to act on it. Monday's dinner will be a turning point. I just don't know what I'll be turning towards. 

Serendipitously, I've reached the verse in Psalm 23 that talks about paths of righteousness. It's a comfort to me to know that wherever God is leading me, it will be on a righteous path.

Where is life leading you at the moment?

close-up of sheep and a tree that I was particularly pleased with :)

the path

What does your path look like at the moment?

For me, it is a little like this one - I can see a little way, but not too far. I'm not quite sure where the path is leading me, but I can see that I will be moving further into the light. I can see that the trees that are obscuring the view are going to open up and I will be able to see a little further.

I don't know what is over the crest of the hill, but I trust that God has it covered and is equipping me as I walk in trust along the bit of path that I can see.

What about you?