Showing Up

I love it when my mind is full of inspiration! Those are the times I can’t wait to get started working on a project. When I feel that push, like the wind is at my back and I’m sailing through a big painting, then it’s easy to fly towards the finish line. I’d love it if I always felt like that, but I don’t. Feelings come and go. Sometimes I’m super excited about a beautiful painting I want to create but my feelings falter at some point during the creation process. It’s the same with anything else in life. Parenting, marriage, career—literally anything and everything has that ebb and flow of emotions behind it. 

Feelings are wonderful when they fall in line with truth—when they act as the extra push you need for the good work at hand, but they make lousy leaders. I’ve got to choose to walk in faith and truth when my feelings are veering off sideways or when they aren’t showing up at all. 

I’ve finally finished the big painting I’ve been working on and I love it so much! I’ll share it with you as soon as I’ve delivered it to my clients. It’s a scene I’d love to jump right into. There’s so much joy in it! Most of the time while I was painting it, I felt the push of emotion that’s so helpful to keep me moving steadily forward. But with such a large and challenging painting, there were times my emotions didn’t show up for me. For a few days in a row, I kept thinking I was going to finish the painting by the end of the day, or at least the day after that, only to find that there was still a long list of finishing touches and changes to be made. The finish line seemed to move beyond me every time I drew near. That’s when I had to choose to show up in faith even when my emotions weren’t showing up at all. I got fresh paint on the palette, clean water for my brushes, and a good audio book playing and then, one minute at a time, I put in the hours. I think it’s important to be gracious toward ourselves when our emotions aren’t showing up for us like we’d like them to. To say something like, it’s okay that I don’t have those feelings right now. They’ll come back in their own time. For now, I’ll continue on while they take a nap. 

The good news? Those inspired feelings do come back eventually. I just don’t want to be dependent on them for me to move forward!

I hope you’re feeling motivated and inspired today in whatever work you have before you. But if you’re not feeling any of that, don’t worry. We’ve all been there! Keep taking your faithful steps forward and your emotions will catch up in their own time. You’re doing great and it’s going to be amazing!

~Amy