the art of change

Today I am feeling tired, weary and exhausted.  I have approximately ten days left of school before the term is up, and I have an abundance of projects to accomplish before then.  I'd just like to share a post I read today written by Lauren Lankford, the writer of Lauren Nicole Love, a blog that I have been following for the past few months now.  I find much encouragement in her writing and her approach to art and design.  I hope you can be encouraged and inspired by what she has to say.

to fight the stagnant.

there is an art to change.
and the secret is not in the pursuit of it. or in it's accomplishment.
but rather in the art of perceiving it.

* * *

you have moved. you have grown. you have changed.
you have improved. you have become strengthened. you have learned.
you have seen. you have been. you have said.
you have created. you have chosen life. you have ended death.
you have become more beautiful. you have grown into yourself. you are more.
there is an art to observing the change you have made.

there is an art to knowing your growth, and ending the lie in your bones that says you are right where you always have been.

it is worth your time to document your movement forward. it is worth the hour of your day to know what you have done with your time.

sometimes we must move into our past, in order to accurately see our present.

create a place on the page, in the journal, on the blog, in the portfolio, on the table, in your soul. create a place to document your change.

* * *

look at your first month of blog entries.
look at your journal from three years ago.
look at your first photos.

do you see the movement?

write down the lies you used to believe.
write down the truth you know now.
write down the part of your heart you hadn't met 5 years ago.

do you see the growth?

find your first pieces of art.
find your first songs.
find your first designs.

do you see your progress?

think about the mistakes you've made that will not be made again.
think about the depth of character that was lacking 10 years ago.
think about the hidden places of the old depression.

do you see the new life?

sift through your albums, your archives, your chapters.

sift through your resumes, your childhood, your classes.

sift through your failures, your accomplishes, your proofs of action.

know the growth reflected in the dissonance between the past and present - know that your present will always be your past, and soon.

* * *

he says he is faithful. to move, to carry, to nurture, to redeem, to assign purpose. he is faithful to carry onto completion the good work he began in you.
you cannot help but grow. he has not forsaken us. like a tree beside still waters, you could not cease to grow even if you so desired.
because he is the great i am.

and in him we live, we move, we have our being.

* * *

refuse the lie of stagnancy. refuse the lie of stillness. refuse the lie of hopelessness.

document your change. be encouraged. and continue to move.