Perseverance

Hebrews 10:36

Hi Friends,

 Today let’s take a few moments to venture into the concept of perseverance.  What exactly is perseverance?  The dictionary defines perseverance this way:

Perseverance (noun)

steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc.,

especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Wow, hard right? Ugh, who wants to persevere? That takes work, discipline, and tireless effort.  “There’s so much going on,” you say, “I can’t possible spend copious amounts of time on something, I already don’t have enough time in my day.”  If you are thinking this, you are not the only one.  But how, sad.  This thought process only hinders us from achieving huge accomplishment and satisfaction.  

I like to think of accomplishment and satisfaction as exercise for the inner self.  I don’t have any scientific proof of this, but I like to think that accomplishment and satisfaction produce endorphins.  Endorphins make us feel good, just like when we exercise.  Endorphins change our mental state from blah, to awe!

I find myself easily sucked into the “do the minimum, get it done, get all the items on my list check off, move on, accomplish more” mind set.  But when we do this we are robbing ourselves of awesomeness. 

Artwork by Honali Marin

   Recently I went to a Bible journaling workshop put on by Amber Bolton, Wow! It was amazing. I am not an artist in the traditional sense, and I find that I inhibit my creativity because of my mindset.  There is a freedom in just letting your inner creativity out.  No judgements, no comparing to someone else, just letting it flow.  I came away from this workshop truly inspired.  One inspiration led to the next, until I was swimming in possibilities. 

One of the things I came away with from this workshop was hand lettering.  We had many tools at our disposal during our Bible journaling time.  There were these awesome markers; the Tombow dual brush tip pens.  Who knew there were special markers for hand lettering! (I certainly didn’t). During the next few weeks I started doing research, watching YouTube tutorials, amassing supplies and practicing.  I won’t go into details about paper quality, brush tip sizes etc. as that is not the point of writing this, but I want to allude to the fact that there is a lot of information that goes into any endeavor.

I found that hand lettering, for me, is therapeutic.  It’s something I can do while my family is in the living room playing games or reading books out loud.  It’s something that I can do to keep my hands and mind busy but still be a part of what’s going on around me.  In short, a relaxing multitasking effort.

Hand lettering is not something that I was good at when I started… the middle of April… but over the past couple months I have improved.  I’ve kept my scratch paper practice sheets, and it’s very rewarding to see the progress and improvement.  It makes me feel good about my effort and motivates me to keep practicing to get even better.  I cannot say I have mastered hand lettering but I’m enjoying the process.

Artwork by Honali Marin

In the process of watching tutorials, I found yet another fun, creative way to organize myself.  Bullet journaling.  One of the YouTube videos mentioned their bullet journal and explained how they use hand lettering in that creative process.  I thought, “what is bullet journaling?”  That question led to more research and more awesome discovery.  I do not bullet journal my whole month, but I’ve found that there are certain aspects I love.  Getting thoughts on paper in a creative way, helps me clear the overflowing boxes in my head.  When I write it down I tend to remember it.  When I write it down it’s concrete and holds me more accountable. When I write it down in color and use creativity doing it I unwind and have a place to look back on whatever I want to remember.  

Watching bullet journaling tutorials and ideas led to another discovery.  Traveler’s notebooks.  Again, I asked myself, “What in the world is a traveler’s notebook (TN)?”.  Wow! Mind blown.  Now I have a place to keep all my creativity.  I couldn’t find papers I wanted for different processes, so I bought paper that would suit my purposes, cut them down to size, folded the paper in half, created a cardstock cover and sewed it all together and voila, I had a custom-made place to keep my birthday lists, motivational sayings, Exercise logs, food logs, and much more.  I know all the information and ideas I’ve taken out of my head are not bouncing around on scratch paper, or post-its, I can find them easily and my mind is not swimming in so much “noise”.  I can put my finger on whatever it is I need easily. 

Why did I go into all this detail about my newest hobby? To illustrate that perseverance makes your life better.  Back to the beginning, Bible journaling, the whole activity that started this journey.  I find myself excited to spend time in the Word.  My devotional time has become fun “I want to” time, instead of “I should” time.  Instead of just glazing over words, most of which I’ve heard or ready many times in my life, I use the process to bring the Bible to life.  

1.    Pray - Ask the Holy Spirit to be present in your time in God’s Word.

2.     

3.    Read - Read a portion of scripture.

4.     

5.    Ask - What stands out in the passage?

6.     

  - What does this passage say about God?

  - How does this passage inform how I live?

4.             Respond - Use the margin of your Bible to create an image as a response to what you learned through these three questions:

5.     

a.             What images come to mind?

b.     

c.              What phrase or verse will you highlight?

d.     

e.             What colors come to mind?

f.       

 

Artwork by Honali Marin

This process helps the Bible come alive.  I’m energized to find new ways to see old teachings.  As I respond, I’m leaving a lasting memory of what I took out of a particular passage.  Not only do I continue to think about what I’ve read throughout the day, I am also reminded of what I took out of the passage each time I see the page.  It’s like reading it all over again, but at a glance.  If you haven’t experienced Bible journaling do some research, learning, and just start. Your first pages will probably not be what you had in mind, but they are grace filled. Give yourself a break, embrace the process.  Growth is in the process, and when we grow we better ourselves, and who doesn’t want a better version of themselves?

 From finding your inspiration, getting into shape, or finding peace in the chaos, your journey awaits. And remember to persevere, it will take you from blah to awe and ahhh!

- Honali Marin