A while back, I came across a blog post by Holley Gerth entitled You Have Permission to Be in Processs.  The title immediately grabbed my attention because I so needed to hear those words.  You Have Permission.  Being the “Type A” person that I am, I love to be able to tie-up life’s challenges with a big bow and declare that I have finished writing a particular chapter in my life, even if it is a good chapter.  I want to be able to say, “I have arrived!”  Truth be told, though, my life is always a work in progress and that is how God intends for it to be lived.

BraveGirlPreviewOver the past several months, I keep reminding myself that I am a Brave Girl in Process.  Early this winter, the idea of starting an Etsy shop danced around in my head.  A shop where I might sell my art.  At the time that I started thinking about this endeavor, I really only had a handful of creations to call my own;  however, the seed stayed firmly planted in my heart.  And then, after a month-long blitz of creating art through a Creative Cleanse, my collection grew a bit and a few of you precious readers asked if I planned to make prints of several pieces.  With your encouragement (Thanks, ladies!), I started feeling pretty brave and decided to move forward with my shop in February.

Full of brave girl excitement, I met with my creative coach to talk through the process of starting my Etsy site.  I told her that I kept thinking about the 1989 movie with Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams.  If you build it, he will come.   It was if God was whispering to me, “I know you feel like you don’t have much to put out there right now, but if you build this site, they will come.  I will come.”Easel

Just like other dreams I have chased in the past, I wanted to be there yesterday.  To just skip all the hard, tedious work that is necessary to get an Etsy site up and running.  What I thought might just take a month or so, is taking me longer.  I am in process.  And it is okay.  I  am learning what is involved in working with printers to get things looking “just right.”  I am learning the balance involved in taking time to create, start a business, run a household and to be present for my family.    I am learning (again) to allow God to determine the pace at which things unfold.  I am learning to enjoy the process just as much as the product.  In the meantime, I will continue to paint that field in which my brave girl will ride her bike.  Head down.  Feet out.  She will fly one day.  In her own time.

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