“Trust the Process” doesn’t deflect accountability. You know this, right?
What do I mean when I say that I trust the process?
I mean that I trust God’s ways are always better than my own,
and that He has a plan for me,
and that my purpose is to Glorify Him.
I mean, “I surrender” ~ i do this in life, and I do this in my painting.
What do I mean when I say that I want to bring Glory to God?
Well, let’s not go so fast… I’m going to back up a second….
I believe that the pansy whose seed fell in fertile soil, is as perfect as the pansy whose seed fell in arid gravel. There was no choice for the pansy or the seed of the pansy.
The pansy seed is perfect. The sun is perfect. The rain, earth and air are all perfect. They are doing life the only way that they can. They give Glory to their creator ~ they aren’t trying to be something other than what they were created to be. The seeds don’t envy or strive to be better than the other seeds, the sun doesn’t shine brighter because it wants to be the brightest of the universe, and the earth doesn’t turn over soil any faster or better than it did before because it’s been practicing for a billion years. They all respond without question or hesitation.
Humans have a very special gift ~ the gift of will ~ unlike the pansy seed, or the wind ~ which have no authority or power or choice to do anything other than what they were created to do. My dog will never wish to be a different animal, or wish to be a different color, he will never long for vacation, he will never think to himself that he is better than the other dogs, he will never set a goal, he does not look at my art (like the rest of us) and think, “wow, she’s so talented!”
Humans, I think, take that gift of will (power) a bit too personally ~ we beat ourselves up ~ and we claim glory as our own.
We can believe that our will makes us independent from God, rather than like God ~ maybe that there is no god at all ~ just random floating cells of energy in space…..
I don’t know what other people think ~ it doesn’t matter.
What I think is that no matter how many times you stumble, mess up, go too far, don’t go far enough, etc… you are giving glory to your creator ~ you are being you ~ I am being who I am ~ flaws and triumphs are not mine ~ I can choose to bring glory, by being who I was created to be…. or I can try to be something different, denying glory.
When we try to be something different, we are not glorifying our creator, (whether planted in fertile soil or arid gravel). We might wish that our legs were longer or that we would be as loyal as our dog ~ we could even practice stretching our tendons and acting like a barking dog….. we could never be a dog. I could never be an opera singer or a rock climber or an astronaut ~ NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY OR HOW MUCH MONEY I INVEST OR HOW MUCH POSITIVE THINKING I DO.
So what are we supposed to be or do? How is it that some suffer horribly, others seem to receive reward and comfort ~ how is any of this fair or justified?
I don’t have the answers.
I have an abundance of gratitude for being alive at this moment ~ for the delight of being a child of God. I should have died a bunch of times, I should have been arrested, I should have been fired, I should never be trusted because I can’t even NOT eat ice cream.
When my first business failed after 5 years…. did IT fail me or did I fail it? Or was it perfect? When I stole money from my employer, did I fail? When I was jealous, angry or self-serving….. did I fail? When I didn’t help the poor, did I fail? When I hid in the corner, frightened, did I fail?
I see all things as creations of God ~ including myself ~ and that I am (we are) His ~ like children ~ dependent.
When I look at you, I see a sibling ~ just as stupid and weak and dependent as am I. It makes me love you all the more. I forgive you so quickly because I have been forgiven. I know firsthand that good people can do bad things ~ I’m one of them.
I believe that the things we consider “bad” or “unwanted” in our lives are actually just as precious as our favorite moments (I’ve always felt that Judas is important to our salvation ~ that he fulfilled his role perfectly ~ not by choice, but by our Creator’s perfect design)
I believe that we are born with everything that we need: dependence
We are like the seed ~ we might land in fertile ground; we might land in arid gravel…
we are NOT like the seed in that we can deny our Creator by turning away from the sun, or closing ourselves from the pollinators.
So….. when I say that I trust the process…. or when I recommend that you trust the process… what I am saying is that I haven’t earned an ounce of any one of my accomplishments, and so I haven’t earned the failure or lack…. I didn’t make the plant that produced the cotton which became canvas…. I didn’t create the pigment or the oil, or the boars’ hair bristles of my brush. I didn’t create the eyes that see, or brains that interpret color.
I trust that God is in charge of me and my life ~ that I am His creation ~ and that glorifying Him, by being who I was created to be, is my only purpose.
I don’t hope to create the most beautiful painting, or to have a painting that is so beautiful that it travels the world…. I don’t hope for riches… or to write a perfect essay.
I hope only to glorify My Creator.
I expect in doing so, that I will paint beautiful paintings, that they will reach others like ripples of water, and they will generate goodness wherever they go. It’s a given, really ~ does anything get better than that which God created?
What do I mean when I say “trust the process”?
I mean this:
relax, take it easy, don’t worry, It’s all good ~ reject anything else not good (especially ice cream.)
A year ago, I was denied membership to a long-standing professional art association in my State. I was shocked. People around me were shocked. The association was justified in that they made it clear during the application process that unified framing and style was very important.
I did what I normally do ~ something different.
I chose to unify with story, not with color or frame, as they recommended. It didn’t work out for me, as far as membership goes ~ but it worked out for me in so many other positive ways that I hadn’t previously imagined, and that still surprise me today.
I turned the energy that I had for participation in the association, into NH Art Show Week, a social media campaign that promotes my artist peers and our NH Arts community. (see @nh.art.show.week) Making the point: FREE & ACCESSIBLE
This ultimately connected me to 2,000 artists in NH, who receive exhibition and connection opportunity at no charge, which established my credibility within this peer circle (together we reached over 100,000 accounts with our art in 1 year) and provided me with experience and opportunities that have benefited my career in countless practical ways.
In summary: gratitude attitude raises latitude
It’s not a cop-out ~ it’s a map to the treasure.
