The Grand Plan
Design and create what has been birthed in you.
A quote card that I purchased at the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is in my briefcase, so I have it handy at all times. It is a statement the artist made in reference to her unending love affair with New Mexico. She said, “It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it often enough I could have it.” We are artists in our own way— attempting to express ourselves on the canvas of our daily lives. The sad thing is that so often we miss our own art because we do not step back and observe where the brush strokes are going.
My mother was a constant source of joy and surprise to me. She took the initiative to form her own art group. She called LWAOS, which stands for Loose Women Artists of Sedona. The group met once a week on Wednesdays in the clubhouse from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon.
Each week one of them would assign an experimental art form that all must participate in. The only goal of the group was to stay loose and have fun. On one of our calls, she said, “We did paintings that you could hang from any angle—upside down or sideways. The whole purpose was not about perspective, but balance and color.”
My Mom had a blast creating her own second childhood. She was doing what she loved as part of the grand plan.
My friend and co-worker Marty Blubaugh, called me after one of his trips to Washington, D.C., on my behalf. Marty shared with me that on the plane ride back, he sat next to a woman who works at a major military supplier, making a lot of money, yet somehow hating her job. Marty explained to her what we were doing with teens and how my book, The Path, had helped him get more clear about his gifts and calling as well. When she got off the plane, she turned to him and said, “I have hope now. I just didn’t want to spend the next half of my life doing a job that I hate, even if there is a lot of money involved.” Marty and I and all our Path facilitators are passionate about people being able to live their grand plan (personal mission) and make a living at it.
Interestingly enough, I was perusing my journal and came across a poem I wrote about Marty’s seven-year-old son, Scotty:
Scotty
I was unprepared for his beauty— front tooth missing—the gap centered under large dancing eyes flecked with gold.
His hair lay upon his head in a perfect circumference of gold peach fuzz— finely shorn finishing in a cowlick off the center of his forehead.
His little chest spread out under his tee shirt.
His skinny legs ended in tennis shoes, one of them untied.
“What did you do today at school, Scott?” asked his solemn father.
“Nothing much, Dad—hung out on the playground at lunch and then ate cupcakes!” he shouted.
He lifted his face up to me— seven years in forming—and laughed, “Cupcakes, cupcakes—slap me silly, but that is what I love the most.”
And my heart flew into him unprepared as it was for his beauty.
4/15/01
Scotty was showing unending delight in his school subject of choice. I believe that each of us can be working in a cupcake mode . . . doing what we love most every day. In fact, this is my passion.
My challenge to you is to fill in this blank, imitating the cupcake verse of Scotty, listing the subject in life you most love.
“_______________, ______________, slap me silly, but that is what I love the most.”
Yours might read: “Gardening, gardening, slap me silly, but that is what I love the most.” Could you make a living by gardening? Many people do.
Or yours might read: “Building, building, slap me silly, but that is what I love the most.” Can you make a living building things? Many people do.
Now imagine if you could make a living doing every day what you most love to do. Be like Georgia O’Keeffe. Understand that if you paint it often enough, God will give it to you.
Jesus left the carpentry shop of his father to head out into the wilderness, teaching, healing, and preaching, urging us to come out of our boxes and reach for the sky.
Jesus lived his mission, and he challenges us to do the same.
~ Laurie Beth~ Live. Breath. Joy.
Thoughts and Questions
1. If someone were to interpret your brush strokes, notes, or journal entries today, what would it convey about what you most love?
2. Why did Georgia O’Keeffe think that God would give her something if she painted it enough? What did she mean by that?
Spirit of Joy,
Help me shape what is loved, and lovable, in your eyes. Help me also understand that somehow, I am your great masterpiece, and that doing what I love the most gives pleasure to you, my Designer and Creator. Amen.
