All at sea

There are times when I have no idea what is going on.

Times where I feel as if I'm in a very small boat on a very large sea.

With no landmarks in sight.

When I have an idea of the direction I should go in but no clues, I need to use a compass.

When I have to rest but don't want to drift, I need to use an anchor.

Faith provides both for me.

Thank You, Lord.

Comparison

I found this quote on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog - go and have a look, it's fabulously inspirational. I shall be linking this post to her 'Art Journal Every Day' link list on Friday (which will be Saturday for me :) )

Comparison is the thief of joy - Theodore Roosevelt

How true!

How often do we compare ourselves and not like what we see?  Instead of being content with who we are and what we have, we look over the fence and desire what is there.

As artists this comes up a lot. We see a piece of work by someone else and like it. But instead of just being blessed by the fabulous creativity, we compare our own work with it. Often what we have previously been pleased with we now start to see faults in.

Why do we do this?

What we have to remember is that we are not comparing like with like. We are all unique. We should be content with being an original rather than a carbon-copy of someone else!

Vigilance!

Back out in the garden again this week. All the rain we have had over the winter combined with a plague of hairy caterpillars has meant that the weeds have got out of hand! I've filled up our green bin with long grass and weeds pulled from between the vegetables, most of which have just about held their own against the insect invasion. It's jolly annoying how the things that I want to eat from the garden are the same ones that the insects love to eat as well. There are so many weeds out there that they could munch on but no, they have to eat the artichokes and spinach.

Anyway, all this weeding made me think about how vigilant we have to be. The weeding really needs to be done little and often to keep on top of it, much like keeping bad habits out of our lives. If I want to see obedience, fruitfulness, and righteousness in my life I have to not let them be choked out by anxiety, stress, covetousness etc. Each and every day I need to sit before God and ask Him to root out the bad stuff and nurture the good stuff. It's easier to do bit by bit than have the radical ripping out of 5ft high weeds.

Where does your life need weeding?

More of Psalm 23 book

The top two pages have cut-outs that allow each side to show through. I'm already thinking that cut-outs are a pain in the neck! However, I am pushing on with them and hoping that the pages don't look too samey when they some of the same elements.

recycling

I like to make my own journals. I also like ones that are not standard sizes and have a decent number of pages in them. This is my latest. It is 11½ x 8½ x 4in and covered using an old denim jacket. I liked using the jacket because it has allowed me to put a pocket on the front, one on the back, and utilise the buttons as a closure. Also I don't like to let anything go to waste. 

speaks for itself

Jewish proverb. 'Nuff said.

Look at these great pianola rolls that my thoughtful hubby picked up for me to play with. Now, which idea to go with....

sowing and reaping

How often do you think to yourself, 'I wish I was thinner/healthier/had a different job' etc. Too often we want the fruit without having to sow the seed.

If you want to grow something, you first have to plant it. But that's not the end - you have to cultivate it as well. That's what takes the time. As my husband pointed out in  his sermon on Sunday, you can't go into your garden and pick an apple if there is no apple tree planted there.

Lots of us would like  to be more patient, but it doesn't happen overnight. You become more patient by cultivating patience - by actually just doing it. Yes, we'd all like to wave a magic wand and become saintly in an instant, but that's not how it works. We build muscles by using them.

We grow virtues by practising them.

We need to plant the right seeds.

playing...

Have been playing with my new Copic markers. I like this Magenta stamp - it has so many colourway possibilities. Here are a few I tried out: 

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?

blossoming

Have you ever avoided doing something that you know you should do? I'm not talking about general procrastination, but those things that are a bit scary but that you know will help you move forward, learn, develop, whatever. 

As Anais Nin said:

...and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom...

Sometimes resisting the thing we know we should do causes more damage than facing the pain or fear of just doing it. It stops us from moving forward; from blossoming.

This is often the case when we need to forgive someone. The more we hold on to the hurt, the more hurt we become. I like to think about it as holding on to barbed wire: if we would just let it go, the pain would stop and the wound would heal.

Where do you need to blossom?