Just Do Something

I didn’t get up and run. I didn’t get the meal plans with calorie counts laid out. I haven’t worked on my blog, paintings or book in the last few days. I had no art plans for the kids. With hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road, distracting and discouraging thoughts plague my mind. The drive ahead looked bleak and full of more self criticizing stabs.

“This is not how you roll,” a gentle and surprising whisper swept through my soul. This was lazy, full of excuses. It was not me. Not the dust off, get up and go girl who is BLESSED! Now, what can I do? Surely I can do something!? I need a transformation of thoughts....

Romans 12:1-2 says “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Looking down at my water bottle in the cup holder, I knew it. I could drink more water. Not earth changing, but a start. It’s good for me. It is moving in the right direction. Glug, glug, glug. There! I did SOMETHING. It was like holy water, filling me up with a renewed sense of hope. No, there was nothing magical or spiritual about my plastic water bottle. But there is something amazing about our God and how He can even work through a drinking straw. The cycle was broken. The self-defeating cycle of not good enough, not getting enough done, not enough progress was broken. Why? Because I did something. Through a divinely inspired desire for something more. Not something amazing. Just something. Something putting me on the right path and turning in the right direction. What something can you do today? Pick up the paint brush? Write down blood glucose levels? Make the phone call? Lace up the running shoes? Open the Bible? The pattern has to be broken before it can be changed. Today, I will continue to drink more water. And lace up those running shoes too.

To live an artful, abundant life takes a proactive attitude. Artful life is meaningful life and it is worth the effort to be proactive. Make something more beautiful by rearranging; mantle décor, pictures on the wall, or flowers in a vase. Recover the cushion, or move your most precious piece in the curio cabinet to a new place of prominence, where it can be admired! Need to clean, but feel overwhelmed? Just do something…a drawer, a pocketbook, a counter. Intend on doing art with kiddos, but feel intimidated? Grab some paper going in the recycle, scissors and glue and make a mixed media collage on a paper plate. It doesn’t need to be a giant, multi-step lesson with extensive objectives. It just needs to be.

Cat Food, Popcorn and Setbacks

“Maybe art on rainy days…or how to reuse plastic bottles in a creative way…”

My mind whizzed through possible topics as my vacuum whirled away dog fur and debris. Lord, what would you have me write about next? What can I share? What about that snowman thank-you card we made?

Crash! Twelve pounds of cat food on the floor later, I had my answer. I had a plan. I had a mission. And I had a setback. So I thanked God for allowing me to dump a month’s worth of feline fare on the floor, cleaned it up (and used two hands to move it back on the stool it tumbled from), and continued.

Setbacks come in many forms…changes in health, relationship altercations, unexpected occupation alterations, art plans that don’t go as expected and surprising expiration dates on dinner ingredients. They can be small, yet destroy a day. Or they can be huge and feel like they’ve destroyed a life. Yesterday I planned an artsy project with the kids. Funny how even with years of art teaching experience, I didn’t see the setbacks coming. That’s how they work. With blinding surprise.

Here’s the scene. While trying to emphasize the meaning of the word “thankful” with the kids (kind of ironic now, actually), we had a simple, creative plan (which I still recommend, but with a few adjustments…you’ll see). Using white glue on black paper, I spelled out “THANKFUL” and Kaden would use leftover popcorn to fill in the lines. Voila! Creative-learning-experience-with-emphasis-on-character-traits for the day…check!

You can probably imagine the gluey mess that ensued. Popcorn was recognized as a food…not so much an art material. Mostly after being dipped in glue. Baby dolls and army men came over to take a dip in the sticky white rivers. Nayla’s tiny hands laid flat on the glue letters while she reached for more popcorn. Adding paper to the mix to replace the popcorn only made it more confusing. Pretty soon we had to scrap our plan. We had a setback.

A good hand washing and a few wiped toys later,  I found it necessary to reflect on the situation (a much more fun approach than immediately cleaning it up).

What went wrong? Could I change it for next time? Did anything go right? Where do we go from here? Is it worth repeating, but with changes?

So here’s the good news. When you have a setback, you have a chance to change. Oh yes, you can just stew. You can blame. You can cry. You can sulk. But after that, you have an opportunity to make some lemonade out of some lemons.  Even better, we’ve got a God who wants more for us than just frustration.

“How abundant are the good things you have stored up for those who fear you” says Psalm 31:19. So God’s got bigger plans for me than my mistakes, flaws or setbacks. I choose to believe this is true on even the smallest level. So, how ‘bout some good things?!

So we’ve got a setback. Now what? First, make sure you are on the right road. “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3. Whether a project with a toddler or big business deal, this part has to be in place.

Second, where did things go wrong? Reflect and analyze. In my simple messy example, using food for the first time with this project and putting on a little-sister-level table spawned most of our problems.

Third, what could we change? In our case, using paper (cut to the right size) instead of popcorn as an introductory media will be in the next plan. Setting up little sister with a paper of her own (with a smaller amount of glue) and manageable paper scraps should help too. Modeling the project with one of the letters might not be a bad idea either. If your setback involved someone else, ask them what could be changed and make it better. Even my four year old was able to help out with suggestions (“Mom, Nayla needs her OWN paper!!!”) and he had a chance to see how we handle setbacks together.

Setbacks that are mistakes in art are really just opportunities to be more creative. That’s what I tell my art students. And that’s what I believe. Setbacks that are beyond our control are opportunities to grow in faith. That’s what I tell myself. Blessings to you as you tackle your setbacks with a sense of grace and style!

A Handful of Hours

This is what I have today. I want to give God my very best and bring Him something worthy…but this is all I have. A handful of hours. That’s it. Nothing more. So I lay them down on the throne. I shuffle them around and sort them out, trying to make it look like fancier, like something more. But it’s still just a handful of hours. “What can you do with these?” I humbly ask, “What good are a handful of hours?”

They are perfect. It’s exactly what He wanted. My Father takes my gift and with strands of love, weaves them into a fabric, wrapping it tenderly around lonely shoulders. He paints them into a picture of kindness and chances to change the world in small ways... ways that matters to just one person at a time. He sculpts my gift into a home where joy overcomes frustration; a place where fear dissolves into peace. With this gift, he draws smiles onto the faces of children, erases a friend’s tears and etches in laughter. This tiny gift is embossing hearts with respect and lives with grace. He prints blessing after blessing with this handful of hours, coloring light into dark spaces. I should have known. He is the Creator.  

I’m not ashamed of my gift anymore. For he who is able to do remarkably more that I could ever imagine wants what is best…even for me! In 2 Corinthians (9:7-8), scripture says “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” I am going to write it out and tape it to my mirror.  You should see what your handful of hours can do. Look prayerfully and watch carefully. You, too, will be amazed.