Redo and Rework

Have you ever wished you could just pick up a paintbrush and redo your mistakes? Oops, I forgot to say sorry.....repaint. I said something I didn't mean.....repaint. I didn't make the best choice the first time around so I had to do it again.... repaint.

I Just finished painting a picture of a parrot. I had to redo it and rework it. The initial fear came when I stood looking at the blank canvas. WHERE DO I START????? The next step was drawing a light sketch of what I wanted. Then putting on the layers of paint, determining the light source and the focus point. I initially made the beak too big and down too low, so I had to make some pencil sketches, compare them to my painting and then paint over the original beak. The next issue was the feathers, at first they were too small and close together. It looked like the poor bird had been blown up with air and was going to explode. So I did some research on the internet, watched a few David Kitler videos, and just let go, trusted myself and did it. Surprisingly the large brush was the one that worked the best. I was putting too much emphasis on the details and forgot about the larger picture. The painting isn't what I initially set out to do, it's not a lot like the original photograph, but it's an expression of me. I like the final product.

Painting is so symbolic of life. At some time or another you just have to put something on the canvas. The blank paper is not going to paint itself, you have to trust that you can begin. Sometimes we need to redo something that we thought we already learned. Sometimes we just need to step away and give it some time to process until we start seeing the big picture. Sometimes we need to turn to others for advice and help. Life's issues can get us down, distract our focus and at times simply paralyze us. I think we always have to remember that at anytime in our life we can do a redo or a rework. The life you end up with isn't always the life you thought you would have. The life you wanted may not be attainable, but if we just begin and always remember it's not about attaining perfection it's about the process, then we can live a life that's rich with experience and beauty. So pick up that brush and just start.

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him (God) who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12b-13

Thoughts from a Night-Owl

Do you ever stay up late just because you like the sound of silence. I do this when I can. I don't know what it is about the silence but it seems to renew me. It's 2:35am. Everyone's sleeping, I know I should go to bed, but it is so peaceful this time of night. I don't have the luxury of doing this when the school year is in so I'm taking advantage of it this summer.


It's interesting how our bodies will slide back into what is natural for us. I'm a night person. I don't hate the mornings, but it's a discipline to make myself go to sleep early and wake up early. When I don't have to I start sliding back into the stay up/get up late routine. I do my best thinking when it's late at night. I connect with myself and God late at night. I have my greatest creative bursts at night.


Natural inclination and conditioning do play a part in whether you're a night person or a morning person, but I think we are born with one or the other. Whatever we slide back into is who we are. I've always wondered why some people that are morning people think that getting up when the sun comes up is the morally right thing to do. When the morning people are going to bed I'm getting my second wind and accomplishing an amazing amount of work. I would never tell someone that staying up late is the morally right thing to do and right way to live. Perhaps it all springs from the saying, "Early to bed, Early to Rise, Makes a Man healthy, wealthy and wise". If this is a true statement, would it be logically correct to say that the opposite should also be true? "Late to bed, Late to Rise, Makes a man sickly, poor and foolish." I think we should change this saying to say, "Whether Early to Bed or Late to Bed, our life choices have the power to make us healthy, wealthy and wise". It doesn't have the same ring, but it is much closer to truth.


No matter how much I will myself, discipline myself, routine myself to death, I am never as productive in the early morning as I am in the late nights. It's not the late night or early wake that causes health, wealth or wisdom. It's our attitude towards life and whether we choose to be victimized by life or to learn from life. We are a mosaic of our life experiences. Some are wonderful and filled with joy while others are painful and leave scars. It is these very things that make us who we are today. If we were to delete any of our life experiences we would cease to be the people we are today. Do we live with regret? Yes, but we don't wallow in it we learn from it. Do we struggle with moral evil that's been forced on us? Yes, but we don't allow it to destroy our soul. Do we give up and become fatalistic? No, we grow, change, develop, hone the skills we've learned and pass them on to others so that they can live full, joy-filled, productive lives. Do we blame others for where we've landed in our life? No, We choose to walk the road called "Forgiveness" and and push in to God until we believe, see, know, understand and live the life he called us to and created us to be. This is what happens to me when I stay up late and sit in the silence!!!


Well, I will be back to teaching in a little over a month so in a few weeks I will have to start the process of changing my body back over to getting up early. For now I'm just going to enjoy the peace and quiet. Perhaps while all of you morning people are sleeping I'll write a book, solve world poverty or just watch a movie and chat with the other night owls on Facebook or perhaps I'll write a blog for all those fellow night-owls.