Sunday's ART of Truth - "Believe" - 9-27-20

Sunday’s ART of Truth – “Believe” – 9-27-20

Hello friends, when I created this piece, I was in a very different place mentally & emotionally than I am now. As I finish the blog post for this Sunday’s ART of Truth, my heart really needs to hear the truth.

A couple of weeks ago on my Facebook page, I asked how many of us women just long to hear that we are beautiful? I think the answer is that, most of us do. It is a human need. It is a heart cry. Our bodies age, our middles expand (and expand) our wrinkles fill more of the landscape of our bodies. Our minds are not as sharp.

But, my friends, the longing never stops. We may tell our hearts that it doesn’t matter. That we don’t need it. That we don’t need anyone. We try to convince ourselves that it is sometimes easier to not care. I know, at times, I long for it to not matter. To be told we are beautiful is so powerful. I can hear it in my head but honestly, my heart doesn’t remember.

My heart longs to be told I am beautiful. I am not only talking the beauty of the face, my appearance, but rather the beauty of my heart. The beauty that is captured in years and years of living and history. The beauty that is hidden behind history. The beauty that has been masked in struggle and pain.

Forgive my rambling. This is hard to write about.

We settle into routines, don’t we? We take the people that we love for granted. We accept the peck on the cheek when our heart longs for the depth of passion in the lingered kiss. We settle. Why?

To risk is terrifying. To expose the heart can be embarrassing. I mean, what happens if the words we seek don’t come? What if, the echoes of history and snarling entanglement of life has sucked it out? This is what I fear. So…I don’t ask for what I want or what I need. I tell myself it doesn’t matter.

Many months ago, I did an art piece on “Living Loved”. The idea of living as though you are loved.

If we live as though we are not loved, that seeps out of our hearts and spirits. It returns to us what we believe we deserve. In the unloved place, we see rejection, frustration, irritation, separation and disconnection. We live with fear, doubt, suspicion & deep loneliness.

Yet, if we live as though we are loved as deeply as a person can be loved, then our lives manifest that. Our self-talk witnesses it. Our manner changes. The energy that we put out testifies to our belief that, not only are we loved, but we are worthy to be loved. Worthiness is such a deep sea or emotion, isn’t it?

I have had many talks with Jesus about this. They are very circular, unfortunately. For, to heal from this empty place, I must risk. I must say the thing that I need. The thing that I deserve (ouch, that’s a powerful word) or better yet, that I AM worthy to be loved.

However, He also reminds me that to share love with another human is only one piece of the needs of our heart. We have a God shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill. So, when I created this piece, that was the love I was trying to express. I titled the piece, “Believe” because I feel like it is a choice to believe. A daily choice to believe the truth.

So “Believe” is similar to “Living loved”. I am working on choosing to believe that I am loved and live as though I am loved. That means opening up some more closets so that Jesus can heal the places that are still warped and broken and in need of His love. When He heals those places, the capacity of our hearts enlarges. We are able to believe in and accept the love of other sojourners. To give it and receive it.

My friends, I know, I am preaching to the choir mostly here. I needed to sit with this. I needed to be reminded.

I want to encourage you as I encourage myself. Live as though you are the most beautiful human on the planet.

Hold your head high. Tell yourself the truth about you. Reject the lies and the counterfeits.

You are worthy. You are lovely. You are beautiful.

Until next time my friends,

Beloved-Reborn