A Friday Intro

Hey y'all. It's me. I haven't done one of these in a while, and there are some new folks 'round here (Hiii! I'm so very grateful for your presence), so I thought I'd share myself a little bit today.

.

This is me in one of my fave backyard spots: this soft carpet of moss that grows among our trees, with the sunlight filtering through the bare branches above.

.

I'm married to Stan, mama to Isaac and Maia (10 & 7), both of whom have multiple special needs, and both of whom are absolutely hilarious, creative, and fun. They keep me on my toes, at the end of myself, and fully alive. Enjoying them is my favorite.

.

S'more of my favorites:

--Leading worship

--Writing words

--Hiking in the Colorado mountains (we recently moved from Colorado to North Carolina to be near my side of our extended family, so you can bet we will be scoping out NC hiking locations once Covid takes a chill pill).

--Taking pictures has always been a favorite, but I have recently dived deeper into it. Photographing the North Carolina Piedmont/Triad countryside, near where we live, is absolute bliss. I am hunting beauty these days for dear life. (P.S.I need to purchase a good camera. Anyone got one you want to sell inexpensively?)

--Songwriting and I have a complicated history. I am coming into some courage lately in that arena of my heart for the first time in 6 years or so, thanks to the #apertureoftheheart course by @joyprouty. I may share a few before too long.

.

Finally, here's one revelation that is absolutely transforming my insides as of late: with art, there is no "right way." There *is* excellence, there is practice, and there is good work, but there is no right or wrong. There are no rules. There is only showing up. There is only freedom. There is only deeper and deeper truth. There is only doing what is most authentic to who you are, to how you understand the world.

.

I'm learning to expand more fully into that place. Gradually.

.

Tell me something that's changing you lately? I'd love to hear. Thanks again for being here, friends. <3 (Stay tuned for a favorite poem of mine.) Teilhard de Chardin--

Patient Trust

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete."