It's the end of my 5th week and I'm just 5 paintings short of my goal with a little less than 3 weeks to go!! So I'll definitely make my goal (yeah!) and then some!! I think that now I won't feel as much of the rush....

...Which is a good thing because now I will be able to take some time and enjoy the process. As I look back over the past 5 weeks, it's almost as if I've been holding my breath and sprinting going as fast as I can with my eyes closed (which is the way I travel through alot of my life...full out, all out, hair ablaze) until I come crashing to a complete stop when I hit the wall...literally my body just gives out...WHAM! into the wall...I just don't see it coming then BOOM! I'm on the floor wondering what in the world happened to me. Now you'd think I would have figured this pattern out by now (seeing as how I'm knocking on 50's door) but being idealistic by nature...I keep thinking that this time I won't get tired, this time I am super-girl...yeah...not so much! The wall got me last week....completely wiped me out. I was just undone...by everything...exhausted...my "feast or famine" cycle got me again...bummer. As having been around this block many times before, I know the best thing to do is to relax in it and not fight it...my creativity will return and I will not feel "bluh" for long...yet I did fight it...all week long. The only thing for me to do is "Be still and know that I am God" (Psa 46:10) I needed to slow down and be still and listen to what God was saying to me through His word. Being still is so hard yet so needed for me, to get beyond myself. I'm still in my sitting process and I hope I learn more and more about my activity flowing out from a restful heart. My end result, my "goal" is not nearly as important as the process my heart goes through to get there...I want to make sure I'm listening all along the way.

In God's graciousness, He did provide some paintings for me this week....

"beauty called forth"                 "sing, sing, sing"

                     "beauty in brokenness"