Comfort

Hi, folks,

I am a busy bee currently! Life. Life. Life. Repeat.

I have been thinking about comfort this week. What comforts my heart? This is not a big existential thought. I'm all about the little things over here in my little life. I've been working on breaking my unhealthy habits. Here's one: I tend to reach for food for comfort. I think it is a southern thing, y'all.

Well, an occasional slice of caramel cake is fine, but I need to fill myself up with non-food comforts.  Here is my current list.

Wrapping up in a warm blanket in a cold room
A long, long, long hug
Sleeping in a hammock under the trees on a sunny day
Petting a cat
Floating in the pool
Rereading a favorite book
Reading Isaiah and thinking about it
Listening to my favorite songs on a long walk
Singing by a campfire
Holding hands under a starry sky
Child's pose
A foot massage
Deep prayer where the world disappears around me
Making my bed
Walking in the woods anywhere, anytime
A tall glass of iced tea (no sugar, slice of lemon) on a hot day
An excellent conversation

I need more comfort. If you have any other ideas, I would appreciate them. I hope you think about what comforts you this week regardless. Take some time and be comforted.  I think a person who can self-comfort has found a goldmine.

One more thought, creating comforts me. Write some words. Paint some dots. Cut a rug. The movement in time leaves a lovely echo.

I will be back with more...

Here is a doodle.

And a quote that comforts me:

But they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they will run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

The Unexplored Country

Hi, folks. This has been my unfortunate refrain for a while: my heart aches. I've worked hard as a creative person and believe I have little to show for it. It's tough when the lowliest worker makes more than me. For sure, I've made mistakes on my creative journey, and those mistakes have cost me, but I have always believed my gift would make a place for me. Instead, I've found shut doors. This has led to more than a few nights, sitting in my rocking chair and staring off into the dark night.

Here is a mystery that is greater than me. Once there was man named Micah--he was my kind of person, against unjust leaders, a defender of the rights of the poor, and a believer in social justice. He lived over 500 years B.C.E. ago, and yet his words connect to my experience.  Here is his thought, "Though I sit in darkness the Lord will be light." I'm an American, so "Lord" isn't one my favorite words, we are not the Lord and King crowd. I recognize this Lord as the "Everlasting Intelligence" or "The Maker of the Immovable Rules" or the Heart of the Universe. When I don't know, the Heart of the Universe knows. 

It's strange how light will slip into your soul in the dark night. In the midst of tough times, hope finds me. I find myself dusting myself off, and, as if I'm some mythical creature, I feel myself rising. This season has been a place of darkness for me, and yet I look up in the night and see the infinity of stars. Light always finds its way into the dark corners. There are no words to how this comforts me. I feel drawn into the light. 

What is my response to this light? Light illuminates the terrain. It frees me to move forward. As an artist, I want to build new walls and pour histories into them. I can see the ground now and can see the best places to put the walls. For me, writing is an imagined history that is as real as any history. My imaginary wings are spreading. I see far off seas and the hint of unknown mountains. I have held myself back but now I must extend my boundaries. What will I find in the unexplored country? 

I hope that you are comforted by this. The light will find you where ever you are. I am sure of this.  I will be back next week with more reflections. 

Here is a doodle for you. Waterlilies.

Good news if this is you:

Micah 4:6 ...I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. I will make the lame my remnant,...