Video – Sunday’s ART of Truth – Celebrate Journey – 7-25-21

Hello friends,

Today, I want to share my Sunday’s ART of Truth with you. I totally went on the fly with this one. No real plan other than I knew I wanted to do a journal spread and picked some collage papers and napkins to use. This was an interesting process because, when I do mixed media, I do tend to overthink it. Today, I didn’t. It felt good and free. I love how the project turned out and how the truth of it unfolded as I was creating.

A little about the ‘construction’ of this journal spread. There is and was so much meaning laced into each part of this process and the end result. The collage papers chosen had numbers on them and sweet roses. The numbers, for me, represent time, memories and journey. They speak to me every single time I see them. The alphabet stencil and texture created by that, solidified time in my journal. As I always say, the layers are so super important & meaningful to any project, but this one in particular. I moved through this very intuitively. I tried not to think too much about what I was doing or what I was going to do next. I just allowed the process to take me away. Each layer, from the napkins and paper to the gesso and modeling paste all paved the road for me to enter into my story and create from it. The wrinkles of the leaves, which represented the seasons of our lives, and the crackle on the surface spoke as well. I added gold thread which was PERFECT! So perfect. In the midst of our darkest nights and hardest of times, there was always hope (gold) there was always purity (gold) and there was always love (gold). The strands of gold I ran up and down the spine were especially meaningful. Gold and the spine. By God’s grace, He wrapped gold around the strongest and weakest parts of us.

My husband, Tim and I will be celebrating 38 years of marriage on July 30^th.

“In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.” – Henry Ward Beecher

As young people in love, we often start out with the fairy tales in our hearts and heads. Most often, the fairy tale gets dwarfed by life and stuff. Ours is no different. Tim has stood with me through my darkest days. We both chose to take the road less traveled in many areas of our lives. My healing journey, being one of them. By standing with me and joining me there, he took that road as well. He is my human hero.

With our children, we also took the road less traveled. Our life raising kids was simple and uncluttered by materialistic things. We didn’t have much, so we didn’t accumulate much. Vacations were camping, fishing and hiking. We rocked out to Queen, Bad Company and others in the evenings in our living room. We made memories, really good memories. We were rich! Our kids are amazing. Often, Tim and I will sit and just kind of look at each other in wonder and amazement at how incredible they are. They are strong, intelligent, compassionate, hardworking and dedicated to whatever they commit themselves to. In the reminiscing with each other, we know that it is only the grace of God that this happened.

As we approach this 38^th wedding anniversary, I am once again struck by the sheer magnitude of our journey. We both carry wounds from time, hell’s journey and years lost. To dreams that were never fulfilled. I have never minced words as I share bits of the journey with you. There are many things we both long for. Many things that we see and feel just beyond our reach, not things, but the inability to capture and steal back time. The road less traveled was very expensive. In our own ways, we have come to terms with that and would not change it for the lessons learned and the things passed on. Our kids tell us that they are who they are because of the choices that we made. They remind us that they are strong and compassionate because they saw and witnessed daily compassion, forgiveness, strength and grace. One time, many years ago, a person who I loved dearly told me that my kids were who they were in spite of me, not because of me. That was a lie, but it takes time to heal the heated wound of that arrow. Now, I know the truth.

What does celebrate journey mean to you?

To me, it means holding the good, the bad and the ugly together in one place and feeling gratitude for the whole lot. It means, leaving behind the what if’s and the should have’s. It is about not living with regrets. It is about being real. It is truly about embracing the totality of our story and still smiling.

Love is a verb and love is a choice. Commitment isn’t all warm and fuzzy, it is a choice.

Nobody’s road is easy, we all have our trials and our tribulations. We all have things that we regret and secretly hoped for. We all have things to forgive and things to be forgiven for.

The road less traveled is paved with compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, grace & love.

On this 38^th year of marriage, I celebrate myself as wife, mother and friend. I celebrate my husband as beautifully real and intrinsically human. I celebrate our love and commitment to that road and pray for many, many more years to grow and love together.

My friends, be true to your longings. Use your voice to create the engagements that you need as your beautiful, human self. Talk to yourself with kindness when you fall short and things don’t go how you planned. Embrace your loved ones. Celebrate the victories along with the hard times.

I pray that you are encouraged to know that you are not alone.

I pray that you know deep down inside how loved and lovely you are.

You, too, are Beloved – Reborn

“It is not what we take up…but what we give up…that makes us rich.”

Blessings,

Beloved- Reborn

Supplies below photos!