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Taking Monday

Creating sacred space from the unexpected. Taking Monday is about being intentional about how we spend our days.

About the Author

New Direction vs. New Distraction

3/21/2016

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​Mondays usually have a long to do list. All of the creative studio things are supposed to take precedence, but somehow the day often turns into running errands, cleaning the house, and trying new recipes. The Saturday things spill into my Monday things. I wish it was Monday that spilled into the rest of the week.

Today I found myself hopeful to make makowiec (Ma-KOH-viets) for Easter, planning to use time between the lines of my agenda for kneading and baking. Grandma’s poppyseed roll was always something I looked forward to on holidays, and I was content to pursue that tradition today and bury my hands in some sugary dough. Then I found my yeast was three years expired (could it really have been that long?).  No worries, I’ll just run to the store, and while I’m there I can fill my cart so I don’t have to go back again (multi-tasking!). But as I penciled out my list, I realized my error. I was once again putting “second things” first, and before I knew it, Monday would be gone and I would be feeling guilty once more for not stepping foot in my studio.

Often, it is the good things that distract us from the better things.

Lately, this has been a much heavier problem for me than the question of “bread or no bread.” Over the past three years, many new directions have been surfacing.  Doorways presenting themselves wide open, requiring nothing but a step forward. So far, although each has offered enticing rewards, they have each revealed themselves truly as distraction; and each time, I have eventually found myself at peace for leaving those doors open for others to walk through.

With each new opportunity that comes, I feel my eyes open a little wider. I do not have to jump at everything that is offered or available to me. And this can be more freeing than filling my life with whatever comes my way.

It is true, sometimes I feel anxious of waiting, ready to leap into the next thing, striving for more, tired of feeling empty, lost, or bored; but if I don’t wait for the right thing, that leap will only lead to empty rewards and I’ll soon be looking to leap out. So I am content in waiting anxiously and letting the world pass me by until the right moment comes with clear new direction that does not distract from my higher purpose. Most of me hopes that moment will come tomorrow. But the small part of me, the trusting part of me, knows that tomorrow may tell me to continue to wait.

Here are four of my recent favorite books that have helped me to find my way and to stay on the straight path:

Susie Larson: Your Beautiful Purpose: Discovering and Enjoying What God Can Do Through You

“Life is too precious to live simply in reaction to our busy schedules or to our binding fears. We have work to do that will change us, fulfill us, stretch and beautify us.”

Lysa Terkeurst: The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands

“The decisions you make today matter. Every decision points your life in the direction you are about to travel. No decision is an isolated choice. It’s a chain of events. If you choose wisely, your future will reflect that. But if you don’t choose wisely, the decisions you make now will take you to places you don’t want to be later.

Bonnie Gray: Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest

“Sometimes, it’s time to say goodbye to what once gave you comfort, so you can face the place of empty and surrender yourself to what your heart truly longs for.“

Emily Freeman: A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live

“You are in a season of waiting. When you finally show up ready to release your art by being the person you believe you are created to be, there may be nothing more disheartening than to be asked to wait. The waiting can drive us mad if we let it. It can become a merciless dictator, shoving us into shapes we aren’t made for, shapes of worry and doubt and short tempers. But the waiting can also grow us, shape us from the inside out for sacred work. “
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Blessed to Rest, Blessed to Work

8/3/2015

3 Comments

 
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It's been a strange summer that has forced me to really take a look at how I rest. I have my go-to stress relievers: music, reading, painting; but somehow my sources of relief were recently causing stress? I suffer from the disease of too much - too much doing, too much trying, too much striving...it could even be said that in my search for rest, I was trying too hard. 

My husband and I took a weekend trip mid-summer and I brought along my normal "relaxing" items, some of which I was looking forward to finally getting to after long hard weeks at work. But somehow I didn't. I did nothing. And THAT somehow tired me out. The week following I was more exhausted than I had been. 

I'm reminded of my days in college when the days leading up to finals filled with endless momentum and driving forward finally came to a crashing halt after the tests were over, and I had nothing more to give. Once the momentum stops, it's even harder to get going again...until you have the proper rest. 

Proper rest. I thought I knew what that was.
Bonnie Gray, author of "Spritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest" says "We try to control the journey of what a restful life ought to look like. But the journey of rest paved by faith is a living story. It cannot be contained. It is beautifully mysterious and personal." I like to contain things. I like when things fit into neat little packages and when 2+2 always equals 4. But the beauty of life is that this is not how it works. It is also the pain of life. 

Thankfully, that first "exhausting" weekend trip was just what I needed to prepare for our big summer trip. A week and a half of mountain bliss. I'm not going to lie, it was not all blissful, I had my grumpy mornings and my husband and I had our disagreements, but what good relationship doesn't? Finally after a week in the mountains, I felt I could breathe again. And just when I was learning to rest for real...it was time to go back to work, and BAM huge pile of unexpected paperwork on my desk, a long stream of voicemails, and rumblings of more problems in the workplace. Sigh.

Life is a balance, and often it is about perspective. I am blessed to rest, and I am blessed to work. All I need to do is take the next step into what is right in front of me. God will lead the way. 

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    Author:Rachael

    Welcome! I'm pleased that you've joined me here and hope that you find some inspiration on these humble pages. 

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