Finding Flow
We were out to breakfast the other morning, when in walked a woman and her husband, probably in their 70s I’d guess. The hostess seated them at the next table over. I couldn’t help but notice. This woman was beautiful and so classy. I felt compelled to compliment her and told her I wanted to grow up to be just like her!
After they had time to eat, she turned to thank me again and started a chat. They were from out of town, though I would have said they looked familiar and thought I’d seen at least the husband before, but no. She told me how lucky we are to live here. I shared how much I love it every day and how profoundly grateful I am and how all that comes out in my art. She asked what brought me here and I told her I moved here to marry Ed in spite of the fact that I never thought I’d marry again after being widowed. Turns out, she was widowed as well and felt she would never marry again–until she met her now husband–whose name is also Ed.
Well that just opened the floodgates. I showed her my book on grief. She looked at my art and poetry. We gushed all about how grateful we both were for our experiences and how blessed we are and lucky to have this life we now have with our Eds. We laughed and cried a bit together and we became good friends in about 20 or 30 minutes that day.
I hope we keep in touch. But even if we don’t, I will remember and honor the powerful experience between us–all because I spontaneously complimented a stranger. What an amazing reminder of how we truly connect through art.
I planned to paint a lot this fall and it just hasn’t happened. The house projects took most of the summer and then I thought my schedule was going to open up to paint a bunch, but it didn’t. There’s a chill in the air. I think my days of outdoor painting have passed. I’ll confess, I’ve been a bit frustrated about this.
God had other plans.
I’m not even sure how it happened, but big things that have seemed wildly overwhelming for YEARS have suddenly become doable. I’m deep in the total overhaul of my entire business infrastructure. Miraculously, I have figured out how to structure everything to support my art for the long haul. I’m investing my time and effort on simplifying and streamlining everything to facilitate real growth for years to come. I’m absolutely in flow and time is stretching to accommodate so much “doing.” It’s a beautiful season I never could have seen coming! I’m still creating, just not with paint on canvas and paper. But it will lead to lots of paint on canvas and paper and that’s worth it.
It feels so spontaneous. And it feels SO GOOD. There’s a season to everything. Though I’m not painting quite yet, I will be soon! What a reminder of a familiar lesson. Stop fighting it. Abide. Be in the season you’re in. Follow the lead. Take the next right step. We never know what’s around the corner, but God does.
