Challenges & Blessings

Hi Everyone,

This is a season of introspection for me… when I take time to reflect on my life’s journey, and try to figure out what my soul needs to grow. I often ask myself these questions:
How can I live my life with intention, so that it will be meaningful? 
How can I use the talents I’ve been blessed with to make a difference in the world? ;
Is what I’m devoting my life to worthwhile?
I seldom come up with concrete answers, but often the pure stream-of-conscience doodles and things I write in my morning journals help me glimpse what is really inside my heart.
Tonight I wanted to share a few pages from my morning journals. They are ‘raw’, unretouched scans, but the words relate to the introspection I’ve been doing.

The piece below says “Challenges force our souls to grow in a new direction.” It’s the trials we face which often cause our perspective to shift… and once that happens, the road ahead is full of possibility. 

Here’s what this design looks like from a different perspective:

Finding a few minutes each day to put pen to paper and write positive, encouraging messages, helps me stay grounded in gratitude. I make a practice of looking for the blessing in every situation, especially the most difficult ones. 

I wrote the quote about being a masterpiece in progress for my daughter, and was delighted that she had time to paint the design before heading back to school.

I’m thinking about including some of my morning journal messages in one of new books I’m working on, and would appreciate your leaving a comment to let me know which of the messages I’ve included tonight resonates with you.
And now, let me share the results of the Coloring & Creativity Contest (drum roll please!): Ardis Ferdig won a set of the new Zenspirations® Create, Color, Pattern, Play books, and Cindy Hanna Davis Therkildsen won the Sakura Goody Basket! Congratulations to you both! Ladies, please send me your addresses so I can get you the prizes. Special thanks to Fox Chapel and Sakura of America for donating the prizes, and to my friend Gina who carefully counted every entry, put the appropriate number of names in a hat, and pulled the winners.
But I think that I’m the real winner… the team of Color & Creativity Enthusiasts posted more than 100 images in the Zenspirations Create, Color, Pattern, Play Facebook group this past week, and they are collectively extraordinary. If you havent had a chance to look through the photo albums, I strongly encourage you to do so. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1471158256528576/.