My magnum opus...

Tuesday, January 27

I resolve to take more self-portraits doing things I enjoy.

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I am my worst critic (can you relate?) so I often talk myself away from what I enjoy the very most~ writing.

Some years ago I started writing a novel. Never do I feel more alive than when I am working on it. It feels me with such joy and is a testament to the fact that I am indeed a daughter of God, of divine nature, born to create.

As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS church, explained at the last women's conference:

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The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.
Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.
Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.

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I know that this is true and yet so often I tell myself--whether the excuse be a lack of time, inspiration, or talent--that I cannot create. So my novel gets tucked away in my top drawer for months, even years at a time. Until those quiet moments of reflection when the spirit whispers to me, "Finish your book."

This has happened to me on several occasions as I have pondered and prayed about my life. "Finish your book." The counsel is clear, unmistakable, but even with this perfect, loving reassurance I let my self-doubt win.

"Why?" I wonder. "Why should I finish it? Who am I to think that I can write a book? And what does it matter anyway?"

And yet the promptings keep coming. "Finish your book. Finish your book."

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So this is where you'll find me in the coming months,

doing what I enjoy the most and...

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Finishing my book!