It is the first day of summer break and I am sitting at my kitchen island trying to put my schedule together for June and July. This room is currently my kitchen, art studio, dining room, living room and bedroom. Yep my bedroom.
I feel like June started without me because of what recently happened here at the "White House".
A very large white oak tree fell on our home at 11:30 pm on Memorial Day, waking myself and my children out of a restful sleep. The tree had to be about one hundred and twenty five feet tall, with three trunk bases in one. It was HUGE and it fell on our home. Thankfully we are ok. The house, not so much.
I feel as if I have lost weeks of productive studio and business time due to this incident. Our home is disoriented and so am I. I have had to temporarily cancel Mini Masterpiece Monday and put my interviews for my podcast on hold, not to mention pausing my current painting projects. Trying to create and live in one room with four people makes you a bit stir crazy. So slowly we are putting our home and life back together to get back on track. Persevering and moving forward!
I highly dislike this feeling of being displaced or disoriented. Life is still very good, don't get me wrong. But it challenges your spirit and ability to thrive, as well as messes with you mentally. I am firmly rooted and grounded in my faith, no doubt about it, but it shook me a bit and has taken me a week to really get my head back in the game.
So why the title "TAP" to create?
I was feeling uncentered and slightly disconnected.
One of the things I speak of and teach others is that if you are feeling displaced or disconnected then you need to check your connection.
It is something I call the 3 S's
-Sit with Him (journaling, envisioning and listening)
-Seek Him (reading His word and dialogue with Him)
-Soak in Him (meditate on all of the above & just enjoy being in His presence)
If I need to feel connected or recenter myself then this is what I do...Sit, Seek, Soak.
This is ideally a daily practice for me, but this past week upset that routine a bit.
So as I was updating my calendar, I downloaded the app to sync it to my phone and there it was right at my finger tips ready for action, color coordinated, organized and clear to see. After the week I had just had I was feeling accomplished that I was able to get several events and appointments scheduled.
A prompt at the top of the calendar screen said "Tap to create" and immediately I thought "Yes! That is exactly what we have to do to keep the creative juices flowing and to stay built up in our faith!"
These are things that I know!
I eat, breathe and sleep creativity through the Spirit! But that "act of God", as the insurance company called it, threw me for a short loop.
I had to get back to center and connect in order to persevere with my assignments and responsibilities.
For me the 3 S's is the way we "TAP" into God in a very practical way, centering us once again and connecting us to The Source for our peace and productivity in our lives and in our creativity.
Look, I'm writing a blog about it! A blog was the furthest thing from my mind this week. But today I chose to "tap" in, instead of sitting and letting the other things consume me. Life goes on. I am so thankful we all have our lives to go on with!
Looking back over today from start to finish I see that perseverance once again paid off. God was once again faithful to meet me in my chair and in my tasks.
I am creating a short curriculm for a class I will be teaching this summer and I needed to "TAP" into Him. I needed insight, words, ideas, instruction, etc. and I needed it from Him. With my mind spinning in circles around the most recent housing event, I had to sit, seek, and soak. It restored order to my mind and brought clarity to my assignment.
So I encourage you, if you are feeling uncentered, disoriented or disconnected..."TAP" in!
Try my 3 S's...
-Sit
-Seek
-Soak