The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.
Proverbs 28:1

Thursday is poetry reading day, and it was just right to have only one chapter this morning. Proverbs 28. I had a field trip to Carter Mountain Orchard with my youngest and a full pick-up schedule upon returning. There was a symphonic band concert in the evening.

I knew whatever word came up, today’s page would have to be done quickly.

There it was in the first verse. I even had a picture of a lion in mind that I wanted to use, but I wasn’t sure how it would go together. I spent time pondering the word bold as I drove over the mountain to Charlottesville with my daughter.

In the late afternoon, after picking up everyone from school and before fixing supper, I sat with my  art journal and thought about what to do. This time I used a sheet of black paper for the background, instead of painting it.

I placed the lion picture on and the word bold. I thought about what I wanted the page to convey. I thought about the day.

It was an act of boldness to step into the role of mom and not teacher on this field trip. I have been the teacher often, and I felt the pull to take on what was not mine. I chose to engage as parent and focus on my one child. I only lost her in the orchard once!

It was an act of boldness to stand in the kitchen this morning and acknowledge to myself that I needed to care for the girl inside of me. My tendency is to put myself last after caring for everyone else. We needed to bring a packed lunch on this field trip, and Mae wanted a Lunchable. We were planning to stop at the store on the way to school to grab one.

Instead of believing the lie that I would not be hungry at lunch time or that I didn’t need a lunch, I took time to make my favorite comfort food kid lunch, peanut butter and strawberry jam and potato chips. I was glad to have this when 11:30 rolled around!

It is an act of boldness every time I choose to show up in a conversation or and engagement with my family. I have done a lot of hard work surrounding my story to help them understand more of theirs.

These thoughts are what inspired the rest of the page as I hurriedly assembled it.

That is another thing.

Though I knew that I needed to be quick about the work, I kept thinking there needed to be more. There wasn’t enough. It wasn’t right. I stopped myself in the midst of looking for more pictures to ask why what I had thought of and planned out was not good enough.

Curious.

I stuck with the original idea and got it done.

Here it is.