APRIL In Review

April has come and April has gone. Historically, April has been my least favorite month. There are lot's of reasons for that, but April 2014 was actually pretty great. I traveled a bit, got to see a lot of friends, and explored Denver some more with some great people. 

Also, I was intentionally creative and pretty much rocked all my goals. They were so life giving, which is why they were so fun. The only week I didn't quite succeed at them was the week I traveled, but it's kind of hard to bring your ukulele to 10 cities on a work trip. So I think that's okay.

1. Play the ukulele three times a week for a half an hour.
• Nailed it. Songs I learned to play from memory: Kiss the Girl, I'm a Believer, Cups from Pitch Perfect, Stay by T. Swift, and I'm currently working on Wagon Wheel. One of the committee heads for Summer Training plays the Ukulele, so I'm excited to play with her this summer!
2. Sit down two times a week for at least an hour and write.
• Success! And this was probably my favorite of the three goals. I loved adding this practice into my life. I got to check out a few fun coffee shops, and I felt a lot of freedom in my writing. Instead of frantically scrambling to get the words out of my head and onto the page (internet), I was able to jot down notes and really spend time with some of my ideas. I definitely want to keep doing this. 
3. Create something beautiful once a week. An image for this blog. A song. A craft for my wall. A card for a friend. A friendship bracelet. Just something.
• Semi-success? I was able to finish my scarf for #scarvesforthehomeless, I made some cool stuff for this blog, and some cute stationary/envelopes for friends. The main reason I sent this goal is because I've been wanting to make this craft for my room, but I didn't end up getting a chance to do it.

I have the map AND the paint! I just need to do it.
image via.

April, if you could continue to be so great for the rest of time, I'd really be okay with that.

Trusting Jesus in my Art

I was complaining to myself earlier today that 1. I hadn't posted anything for this 7postsin7days business yet, and 2. it was really, really hard to write this week.

Then I sat down to write, and I finished off two pieces that have been sitting in my Evernote for awhile, made some good progress on a few posts I've been wanting to write, and started a mini-series I've been wanting to do for awhile now.

But I didn't want to publish any of them. I wanted to save them for later, edit them up, add some images, make them more perfect. But most of all, I wanted to protect myself for future weeks with some back up posts. I wanted to schedule one a week, so I could feel confident in my blogging stability for the next few months. Get ahead, you know?

The question I must ask myself is if I truly believe I have been called to share this and gifted with writing, why don't I trust myself or Jesus with what I'm creating?

So though I chose to write this instead for today's post, those other posts will come out later this week. I'm choosing to trust myself with this skill I have developed and Jesus with the gift he has blessed me with.

And, I'm combating my perfectionism by keeping this short and image-less. :)