Easy is All About Perspective…

Hi! I’m so glad you’re here! Welcome to the garden! If you’ve read the Intro, you know I’ve wanted to do this for years (this being the blog). I’ve been reading, researching and watching videos throughout the years to make sure I have a grasp of what I’m getting into and hopefully make the start easier. Well I am here to tell you, all of the blogs/videos of “let’s start a blog in one hour”… there is literally no way. These first few weeks have been a struggle! Unexpectedly hard and confusing if I’m being honest. There are so many options/themes/plugins that unless you are literally doing the exact theme of the instructional videos, you’re going to take more than the two minutes of the video to figure it out. In fact… I’ve taken hours to get just these few posts/pages together. I was talking with my brother about all of this and he said, “Well I would expect someone who’s been doing this for a long time to say it’s easy because their perspective is from the other side. You are on the beginning side of this so it’s going to be more difficult than when you’re on the other side.” That is when it clicked, I mean don’t get me wrong, I thought about that, but did I really think about it? This is a philosophy for all things in life. When you start something, you may fail, you may make some missteps, have some serious uphills, but it’s how you handle it, how you work through it that really helps you to grow and thrive. It doesn’t matter how much prep you do, articles you read, videos you watch, something is going to happen. We have recently read We Are The Gardners by Joanna Gaines which is just the cutest little gardening book ever. “Dad says that every hard thing we choose to do MAKES US BRAVER for the next time” (Author: Joanna Gaines and The Kids). There is so much truth to that, but ironically we have been saying this for the past four years. We tell our little girl, “You are a brave strong girl, you can do hard things!” We tell her this so much that she also encourages others in this way and a few of our friends have heard this encouragement throughout their days (you know who you are!).

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As I was getting this blog up and running, I was thinking a few hours and I would be up and running… that simply was not the case, and you know what? That’s okay! When I was talking with my brother he asked me if all of this was going to make it easier in the long run. If all of the videos and chats and time spent digging into actually building this was going to make it easier in the end, and yes, it surely will because I am having to do things multiple times to get them to work with me. (But not for long, soon this will be click, click, boom). For example, I started with a completely different theme and had the hardest time with the colors, I tried everything I could think of, consulted my computer genius sister, and we got nowhere. What she was seeing and telling me was simply not what I was seeing on my end. So I just scrapped the whole thing and started over. I’m happy I did that because I like the look of this one better but it took me hours and trying again and again to admit I needed to change that. When I finally changed my theme, I was seeing the things she was trying to show me that would help me work more efficiently. How often do we do that with what God is showing us? We have so many things in our view that we can’t see what He is trying to show us, but when we finally listen, finally change it up, our vision becomes clearer. I have had such a hard time getting things situated and set up that I’ve spent some hours on chats and even a call to figure out how to do these things. During the call, I finally realized why I was struggling so much. (Now I wouldn’t say I am a crazy tech guru but I definitely know my way around a computer.) I expressed my goals and it was recommended that I have someone build the site for me. The reason being, unless I can find someone who has built with the same templates and the same plugins then I won’t really find instruction that will look like what my screen looks like and it will take me a lot of time to work through. If I want something with a solid foundation and that I can plug and play off of, then I should have them do it and I would be set to go in a few weeks. Sounds great right? (Well then we talked pricing and it was immediately out. For something that is supposed to be free; there are a lot of added optional prices!) 

What is the point in telling you all of this? Easiness is all about perspective. When you’re dealing with someone that does something for a living or has done something many many times, they’re going to say it’s easy. So the blog post about how to start a blog that is through someone that makes a living blogging is of course going to say it’s easy. If they don’t say it’s easy, they’re not telling the truth. But the thing about it being easy, is that it’s easy for them, someone who’s done this a ton. In the beginning, it’s going to be hard. When you’re learning something new it’s going to be a challenge but it will be worth it if you stick it out!

I don’t really have hours to spend on something to make absolutely zero progress or even take a few steps backwards. I can stay up at night but this girl needs her sleep (you know lots of things depending on me and all). I need something that will work and something I can do efficiently. Well foundations take time, strong foundations do anyway. So if I would have let someone else build this so I could “just get started”, so I could “see results” more immediately, would that really be the place I want to show up in? I am here to create a community of sharing and connection. A place where we can learn together, grow together and give each other a chance to be the best we can be. To have a place where our roots run deep, our limbs spread high and our flowers bloom beautifully. If I had stuck with the original theme I probably still wouldn’t have posted anything. (And yes, i recognize colors aren’t a big deal to some, but colors are what bring you in, what make you comfortable and what keep you coming back!) So sometimes you have to surrender to see what else God really has for you. And that’s the most important place to surrender, at the feet of Jesus. Everything else is going to take time and be hard work to build that strong foundation. It starts with not giving up, learning the ins and outs and being willing to put in the time to make it right so that in the long run it will be easy. Is there something you want to get started on today? Is there something you need to surrender so you can have a strong foundation for what you’re building? We can do this! YOU CAN do this! 

May His favor be upon you, May His face shine upon you!

XXOO,

Beth