This week I've been in Production Mode to crank out canvas prints to sell at the Desperate for Jesus Conference in Dallas. We were asked to produce artwork for Chrystal Evans Hurst, who is speaking on the theme from her new book Kingdom Woman, and I'm pleased to say that she will have seven designs available on Saturday! I'll be sharing a merch table with her and will have a bunch of my own pieces there as well.
How cute is THIS?
Stacks of inspirational prints.
It has been a production to get 100 pieces designed, printed, cut, framed and packaged. I cannot discuss the framing fiasco that occurred at this time because it still hurts too much.
One thing I've learned over the years is that a production line is its own art form. What seems clumsy and awkward in the beginning, like wrangling canvas around frames, becomes easier and easier with each piece you do. Actions become swift and confident, the repetition becomes thoughtless as your hands do what you once thought impossible. My first canvas took about 20 minutes to final assemble, and at the end I could do them in eight minutes apiece. I couldn't believe how quickly I got good at it.
Parenthood is much the same way. Those awkward first diaper changes somehow become a magician's trick that can be done in moving vehicles while doing the motions to "The Wheels on the Bus" to entertain the other children. You learn you can balance a kid on one hip while vacuuming, and you can hold a conversation with a four year old while simultaneously making a grocery list. You learn how to untangle hair and untangle arguments. You can tell a fake cry from a real one in an instant. You grow eyes in the back of your head.
It's practice and repetition that are the hallmarks of motherhood. Folding socks and picking up, washing dishes and kissing knees. Saying prayers, smoothing foreheads, tickling tummies. Sometimes, in the repetition, we find that we are doing what we once considered impossible -- without so much as a thought. Our hands move while our minds are a million miles away.
Today's Small Thing is to stop the production line and be engaged in the moment. Pause to give thanks for the things that fill your life.
You are doing tasks today that you've done thousands of times before. And this day is a perfect day to infuse each movement with a prayer of gratefulness for the never-ending laundry pile, or the dishes that multiply like rabbits. Or the stack of papers at work, the traffic and the noise. They are signs of life - a blessed life - and it's easy to forget that in the production-line actions of a woman's life. We've become so accustomed to efficiency and simplifying and moving quickly - all important skills - but they can rob us of the beauty of the messes we're trying so hard to clean up.
Give thanks. Be engaged. Stop and listen. Just BE.
It's Friday, and that means it's time to link up for Company Girl Coffee! It's easy and fun - no need to shower and primp for visitors....just throw open your blog door and invite people in! Link up below, then stop in at the blog listed just above yours! Have a great weekend.
I am so grateful for each of you.
