31 Days of Living Art: Sometime Within the Last 9 Days

So, I fell off the wagon with my 31 day stretch of blogging.  It's hard.  I have 9 days to catch up on, but I'm going to summarize my artsy, beautiful 9 days instead of making 9 different posts...you're welcome. 

Sometime within the last 9 days I felt beautiful, which if you've read my post "Beautiful" you'll get why this is a battle won that I've fought for a while.  It was a Friday.  There was no particular reason really.  I didn't have a new outfit or do my makeup differently or a new outlook on life.  I just felt whole and pretty and sound.  I soaked it in.  Sometimes small battles won feel like big battles.

Sometime within the last 9 days the trees were covered with an inch or so of ice, and one day when I was driving I turned a corner and the sunlight hit the trees and it was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time.  It was a field of trees that looked like glass and it was breath-taking.  I actually forgot to watch the road for a scary amount of time.  I wanted to pull over and just stare at them forever.  They were beautiful and heavy, weighted-down.  And For some reason I thought, "I feel like those trees." 

Sometime within the last 9 days, I finished a good book that everyone should read called The Circle Maker.  It will scare you in a good way and you will never be the same and you will change the world and pray big prayers.  

Sometime within the last 9 days I've struggled with finding the line in multiple areas of my life between self-respect and respecting others, which may not make sense until you find yourself in a place where those two things possibly conflict.  I'm still trying to find the beauty in this, or the art that I'm living with that...I don't know.  This is still ongoing and I think I should end it with ellipses (and PLEASE let me English teacher older sister be SUPER proud of the word and use of ellipses)...to be continued... 

Sometime within the last 9 days I went to Nebraska to see my dad and my dad's side of the family.  And this is the part I don't want to blog about, because I don't know where to start.  I have so many emotions about this trip.  I'm sad and tired.  But part of living art means letting these feelings do their work in me and sorting them out and learning from them and moving on.  It wasn't bad because of the family on my dad's side, I love them.  It was just different, and it will always be.  I missed my mom and brother being there and I missed my family being whole.  I don't really know how to word it other than that, and that's about as transparent as I can be with it.  

Sometime within the last 9 days I think I've listened to this poem 4,000 times.  It's just good.  You should listen to it, too.  "And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town."  Matthew 10:14