Childlike - Creating in Faith

We often hear the term childlike/childish being used in a negative context with the offending party is deemed to be acting like a child when an adult response is required.

As artists on the flip side we encourage tapping into your creativity the way a child would.  Children often approach creativity with a 'can do' attitude without the baggage and fear that can come over you when you start to tell yourself your not good enough or talented enough.  Fear of anything other than loud noises and falling is a learn behaviour that starts when our children are young and like sponges they soak up the fear of spiders, lack of confidence, or being good enough.  When taking my son to school when he was little you would hear how the children talked to one another, imitating conversations they had heard from parents and some learnt from an early age how to undervalue themselves.

Deep rooted insecurity 
The negativity embeds itself deep in to their minds and I'm sure we can all think of a throw away comment made by someone when we were young that had quite an impact on us even though many years have passed.

Prior to the remark that embeds itself in a child where they think they 'can’t' or worry about what others 'might think' there is a freedom in the way they approach things, an inquisitiveness and a sense of awe and adventure.  Watching how babies explore their surroundings and learn to walk, if they held onto the impact of their first fall they would never walk again.  But they get up time and time again, strengthening their muscles until they take their first unaided steps.

Letting go of the critic
As adults we try to gain that sense of being back to when we were children.  As we approach our creativity our critic often says ‘who do you think you are’ and we stop in our tracks beginning to doubt just who we thought we were. But we have to face it head on, let go of the critical comments and allow ourselves to soar!

When God encourages us to come to him like a child it is so that we come without the baggage and the fears and doubts that can often surround us, wondering if we really are good enough, he says ‘come’ with his outstretched arms with no motive or calculated plan, just the desire to show love.

What areas of your life can you put a different spotlight on approach in a different way?  What possible  results do you think you can get?  I'd love to hear your views.....

Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest...Matthew 11:28

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger. Psalm 8:2 

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  Matthew 19:14

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Romans 8:16

Come join the group - Creating in Faith, show us how you will be incorporating the words and scriptures and reflections in your art this week.  Step out and be a blessing and you will also be blessed!

Blog love - sharing the love

I come across so many inspiring and encouraging blogs I wanted to share what they are doing

Check out the following sites for inspiration this week:

1. Tonya - Bringing some sunshine on a cold day at Momma's Sunshine - she recently did some really cute crochet phone cases, check them out.
2. Adriano is an amazing illustrator, for inspiration go to his blog Adriano Manzanares
3. Chandra shows us how to create a stylish pom pom beanie on her site A stylish little lady 
4. Jo - always includes a delicious recipe in her posts at Jo on Food, my travels and a scent of chocolate
5. I would also recommend you take a look at the A-Z challenge blog, and consider taking part in the challenge that will start in April.  It is definitely well worth taking part, this will be my third year.

If you have come across any interesting blogs please share, and leave some blog love. 

 Join me every day this month for the   Ultimate blog challenge

Gratitudes - Hugs

A hug can sooth away the pain, provide comfort and help you see things in a different light. 

What are you grateful for this week?

Needing that spark

It's either your spark plugs or your head gasket the Greenflag driver informed me - I had set out earlier to drive to my mums only to find the car wouldn’t start.

An hour and a half prior to that Alan and Sekani had pushed me in the car down the road hoping to push start it, and when that failed to jump-start it but to no avail.  The car stood in the driveway of an unknown neighbour. I knocked on their door, they opened ready to tell me that they were not interested in what I was selling, relieved when I told them about the car, they were happy for it to stay until I got some assistance.

I thought of all the things I had planned to do at my mums had I got their earlier and the impact that not having a car over the next few days would mean especially in this snow. I like things to be organised especially when it comes to my mum – I have accepted that now, to have things crop up wasn’t in my plans for the coming week, nor was the call out fee of £108 as the breakdown cover I had didn’t include home start. I had been feeling a bit off, trying to get into the swing of things but wanting so badly for the first time just to sit and be creative, but I could feel all my plans unravelling as the additional burdens arranged themselves like cheerleaders at the side of the road along with the general feeling of malaise - I knew I should have got the car serviced but decided to leave it for another year.

How like our cars do we unexpectedly stop functioning, out of the blue an unexpected ache and pain, or that numbness you were feeling in your hands suddenly gets worse.  When was the last time you gave your body and over haul?  We can become too rundown from the day to day trials of life that can invariably wear us down and making sure we look after our health and well-being is the thing that will prevent those unexpected visits to the doctors.

Take time as we come to the end of the month to re-evaluate your health, what your putting into your body, and are you getting enough nourishment from the foods you are currently eating? There is no time like the present, and you want to ensure you have more than enough energy to work on your dreams, unlike our cars this is the one body that we have, so we need to look after it!  Blessings

How are you going to look after yourself this year?

Join me every day this month for the   Ultimate blog challenge