Encouragement from Stacy Julian

As a constant source of inspiration, I like to read the blog by Stacy Julian. Recently she had a post which affected me profoundly.

She said: "When it comes to creative expression, we sometimes (quite often) get hung up on all that we aren’t doing or finishing or ultimately accomplishing. This is wholly unfortunate because generally speaking, it isn’t the end result that changes us. It is the very act of making time to pursue and practice creativity that matters. It is the process that will heal you and shape you and guide you in a more inspired path."

See: http://stacyjulian.com/sprinkles/

This has stuck with me in the last few days, and I want to share my pursuit of Creativity, my practice for inspiration, my works in progress....

At my job we always get a million small cardboard boxes, and I have taken to bringing them home knowing that I could do something with them --- until now they have sat in a pile, gathering dust, and looking repugnant in the brown-cardboard-box-color-with-writing-on-it. So, I covered them with brightly colored non-brown paper so that as organizing tools they are more inviting.... Now the job is to utilize the organizers, instead of just letting them sit!

And now we view the unholy mess that I created yesterday. Inevitably, during the organizational process, things must be un-done before they can be re-done. .... Hopefully sooner rather than later... (Perhaps the fact that this is Sunday makes me review the comment just listed, and think of it in different light-- aren't we too needing to change and improve, and often that process is done by undoing our previous actions or habits in order to re-make ourselves into a better image of our Savior.)

Now I know that Stacey's blog was more towards the ideas of craft projects that are still in the works, but this is my craft Room, which holds all the projects I'd like to finish, but have trouble accessing easily. So for me, first comes the room to finish, then I can focus on the others. But as she says, it is the creative process that changes us, that guides us, not the finished project. (In the case of my room though, I sure hope the finished project can then lead me to process creatively everything else!)