A pretty little Seagull living in the moment and trusting he will be fed on the emerald coast of Florida.
The first is to live in the moment. This is not going to be easy as many of you enjoy way too much thinking about the what coulda’s and shoulda’s of years gone by! But if you’ll wake up with the perspective of right now and not yesterday, nor hey, what have I gotta do tomorrow?… you will enjoy life this year more. And here’s the kicker, you will be more joyful and at peace. I have been practicing this now for a few years, and it does take time to master. I sometimes find myself thinking about the future, and then I stop myself. It is not promised, so what am I doing wasting time planning for it?! Oh, the years I spent with a calendar chock full way into the future only to discover things often worked out differently than I had planned, but they worked out!
This brings me to the second focus of this next year, which is to trust that everything will work itself out. TRUST. Now, for those of you who know me, you know who I trust in. It takes a lot to just trust, I know. However, I can honestly say if you will put your trust where your faith is, you’ll be surprised at what miracles will happen before your very eyes. Things will come to you that you never even saw coming, and that brings me to a little story to share about doing just that!
While I was in Florida, which a few are aware I have been in quite a bit towards the latter part of this year, I was at the nail shop. Not just any nail shop, mind you, but a nail shop I had not planned on going to but decided one morning to just go to. Immediately I was greeted by a sweet lady on the couch, also waiting, and she invited me to an artist’s alliance network. They were meeting for the first time since the pandemic (so three years they had been waiting to see each other) and at the library down from my house in about an hour! So, I had to really take it all in, because I had just that very morning asked the Holy Spirit to show me a sign. Many of you know that I have been a painter for longer than a photographer, and with this partial move, I had been thinking about painting and getting into a gallery. I would need to know people who were artists, who were in galleries, in order to make this happen. All of this was a little overwhelming. I grabbed a cheese plate and headed over to the library with not a clue of what or who I would find or meet. You’ll never guess what happened. There I was introduced to 23 women all of whom were working artists, in galleries all along the Panhandle! They invited me to join their network and have been such a delight. One lady stood up after I explained how I came to be invited just an hour before their reunion and proclaimed, “Well that is the fastest answer I have ever heard of from the Holy Spirit!” You know what I said? “You don’t have to tell me twice!”
So, 2024, for me at least, will be a different kind of year indeed. I’m not making lists, I’m not worrying about the future nor am I thinking about the past. It’s full steam ahead each day looking for the little and the big “God winks,” as I have so often written about in the years with you. Trusting that I will be placed and given exactly what I need to achieve!
Take care of you, and stay “sweet!”
Alisa
