Thankful

Have you ever watched an infant trying to coordinate his hands? Maybe he's trying to reach for a toy, or reacting to a bit of excitement. But those hands (and feet!) go flailing all over the place. And sometimes he doesn't mind his flailing, and he seems to be having fun. But sometimes he gets this look of frustration on his face, like in some abstract way, he's thinking, "I know I should be able to do this. I should be able to control these hands!!!" The great thing about babies is that they just never give up. They keep flailing until little by little they gain a bit of control (what choice do they have?). And before you know it, they're climbing the pantry shelves to raid the candy bowl ;)

The other day I was looking at the front page of my blog and clicked on the flipcard view, which shows all the posts in little tiny squares. In a matter of about two seconds, I scrolled through the entire contents of my blog for the past two or so years--practically every artistic endeavor I have seized upon in the time between then and now. And you know what I realized? I haven't been doing this very long. It's not like this is new information, but when it's compartmentalized into a teeny tiny mosaic, it becomes a little more obvious--I'm really new at this.

I'm in that infant stage. Which means there's a lot of frustration--a lot of, "I should be able to do this" running through my head. And maybe that feeling is right. Maybe I should be able to do it. And maybe someday I will be able to do it. But I'm just going to have to flail for a while. It's part of the process.

Perhaps what I'd like to say here on this Thanksgiving day is that I'm just really thankful--looking at this progression helps me realize how incredibly grateful I am for those who have helped and are helping me along on this path. Voltaire said, "Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what's excellent in others belong to us as well." I really believe that there is something important we can learn from everyone we come into contact with. And from my early childhood days until now, I haven't wanted for beautiful and generous people who have touched my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(here's that little mosaic :)