{getting a grip}

It's the day before Halloween.  And, yet my mind keeps coming back to this place. This photograph is well served in the art of reminiscence.  The water was smooth. The paddle was productive. My feet were steady. My balance held accord with my being.  Simply put, I was present in motion.  I spoke little; I concentrated lots.  This image conjures up the deep importance of rest and introspection.  Gently, it nudges me to find the paddle once again in my hands. Metaphorically, I need to make the sequential movements of stroking the collective ripples from side to side.  My balance and breaths have to be unified; my heart mindful of upright.  

Life is fast.  Faster than ever before.  Peering out into this world of schedules and deadlines, I find myself looking inward for a haven of relief.  For it is in that peaceful place that my creativity connects with my heart.  I want time to slow itself.  I want space for dreaming to be a little bigger.  I am quite certain that is why homeschooling the boys happens for us.  As I scurry about my days inside our 4 walls of home, I find the boys blissfully in harmony with their balance & breaths.  Curled up reading, stacking and measuring, defending our country in backyard battles and authoring stories of grandeur with detailed pictures to match.  Their learning is in progress and peace is present.  

{peace & progress}

{balance & breaths}

{present in motion}

I must be reminded that we all fight the current of confusion and constant commotion.  With the tugs of now and the concept of hurry, it's easy to lose ourselves only to miss out on those moments of protected peace if we're not careful. Today I remind myself that my motions can be in peace; I set the tone of my progress too.  My mind must make time for my heart to settle as that's when my creativity rests.  I am thankful for 2 little boys who teach me this on a daily basis.  I am thankful for a God who so keenly keeps my compass when I just let Him soak into me.  The grip on my paddle never felt more perfectly pleasant than it does today.  

.mac :)