Brick Walls

It's Sunday and my last post was WEDNESDAY! So I was determined to blog today. That decided- I was thinking of a topic and really not sure what that would be. It was my 10th Anniversary this weekend. So I've been bathed in sentimentality just remembering everything. I could blog about that. But I'm still of the mind that personal life events are only really interesting to those to whom it personally happens (although now that I write that I'm remembering the entire season of Joe Millionaire I watched once....)

During the week my little boy and I made the cross at right together. It was his homework. SO CUTE! I wanted to use it as an image but still had no idea how.... Then just now, I was reading a little bit from Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture. It's my husband's book and he's got it lying here on his desk next to the computer. So multi-tasker that I am, I've fallen into the habit of reading a bit while the computer's loading stuff.

The bit I just read was about brick walls. The author said, "The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. " My thought was "or not". Sometimes the brick walls seem to exist to show you that you don't want something all that badly at all. That's a form of direction as well. At my Wednesday morning bible study someone asked during prayer that God would guide them by continuing to open and close doors. I've asked God for signs before to show me His way. I wanted a big "GO THIS WAY!!!" and when opportunities came as a result, I went with them rejoicing in answered prayer. But sometimes I'd pray and get no recognizable response. That was hard. But now I'm wondering how many times was my response a closed door or a brick wall and I didn't recognize it for the gift of direction it was?

Lately, I've been blessed with an overabundance of ideas. All of which take time and effort so I've had to look critically at them and decide which one's to dedicate my resources to. Some I've just let float and waited to see if I receive some direction from God. One idea in particular I've invested a lot of time and effort and as a result REALLY want to see it happen. But I'm realizing that if that idea meets a brick wall I have a decision to make. "How badly do I want this?" and if it meets a closed door, "Am I going the right way?" Does God have another path planned for this? In art, as in all things we need to prioritize and evaluate. We need to decide what's worth our while and what is not? Where are you finding brick walls in your path? What closed doors have you encountered?

To return to the cross. I had other things planned the afternoon Jasper and I created it together. But when he called me and I saw him sitting in my art room, at my desk and with this blank cross in hand- I had to make the time to work with him on it. It was a door slamming closed on the rest of the plans I'd had for that time. But by taking the time to do this instead I was so rewarded! I loved the time we spent together on it! The bit of text he picked out (not knowing what it said of course- he liked the butterflies), was I thought, perfect! "Delight in the little things." Delight in the shut doors, and in the open one's. Delight in the time spent one way and not another. Delight in a cute little boy making a really big mess. Delight in the path you were directed to.

If you would like to view The Last Lecture- by Randy Pausch, click here.

Thanks for reading! Happy Sunday! :)