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I believe all our lives, we carry in us part of our small selves.

 

The child who had a wild imagination, was a dreamer. The one who put her nose in a book, who was sensitive to the pain of others. Maybe that small self was a risk taker, the one who kept their parents on their toes.

 

It could be that small self was confused at the outcome of life and wondered daily what was happening-why was life this chaotic, this painful, this confusing?

 

Time goes on and we grow up and older, marching forward, forging a path for ourselves. We can carry through our lives the abilities of the risk taker, the dreamer. We can continue to dream and see some of those dreams come into reality. But what happens when we continue to carry the confusion and chaos? The pain? The outcome is as varied as the individual. We tell our older selves that dreams are silly. We ought to toughen up. Carry on. The nose in a book becomes isolation, protection. The risks we take carry far more hurt than fun. We don’t believe there is any value to our unique selves anymore.

 

The blessedness of this life is that, at some point in time, we reach a cross road and remember. We remember the joy. The small moments of fun. We yearn for those to be true again. How to get back to that point? For myself, the road back has been with Jesus, therapy and art. With these come the ability to trust again, to eliminate chaos, to forgive and give space to my small self.

 

The outpouring of this process has had different seasons throughout my life, and in the last few months it began again when I wondered why I was left alone in the midst of pain and chaos at a particularly young age. The girls you see here reflect that process: the ability to be imperfect, the confirmation that I am wanted, strong, intuitive, worthy and cherished.

 

My hope is that these girls- my “Soul Sisters” as I like to call them- call out the cherished parts of you. May they make those beautiful, unique, beloved parts of you a little stronger and bolder, a little louder.

 

Blessings,

Lynn