On December 19, 2012, a pastor said, "This little girl LIVED A YES." He was talking about Lily Anderson, the daughter of my friend Jennifer, who did her absolute best to kick cancer's tail until the very end...she was 11. I never knew Lily, but to know her mom is to know Lily. To live in Cumming, GA is to know Lily. To have your children attend Vickery Creek schools is to know Lily. That is as close as I will ever get, but I will take it.
On the back of my sweet minivan is a big ol' sticker that says, "LIVE A YES." I like the idea of it and I really love Lily's mama so I can absolutely get on board. All fine and good until you sit and wonder if you are really living a yes. I asked Jennifer what it means to her and her answer was this, "Means different things to different people. Some people deep meaning, some not so deep. Like putting away your shopping cart at Publix is living a yes but so is devoting your life to Jesus. Its a wide range. I will have to talk with you about it." We will talk about it, but the reality is, Lily's Run is coming up and long chatty lunches are probably not in the stars for a few weeks. So with her encouragement, I will tell you my version of LIVE A YES.
One of the greatest fears of my life was that time was running out for me. I feared time flowing so quickly as I just sat watching opportunity escape me. Somehow, I found the courage to determine that my life, my dreams, my ambitions and goals, the love of my children was worth the struggle, the courage, and the bravery to blaze my own trail. From the moment the fog cleared, I can tell you with every ounce of my being that I have been living a yes. I want to share several life-changers with you...times when YES was scary but I did it anyway.
Truth be known, I am an extrovert who occasionally suffers from a bit of social anxiety and fear of commitment. When one of my dearest friends from high school asked me to meet her several hours away at a place I had never been with people I had never met, it would have been so easy to say no. I could have come up with a million (lame) reasons why it wasn't a good idea, but I didn't and that weekend turned out to be a once in a lifetime experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. I jumped into a crystal blue, fresh water spring from 10 feet in the air...the same spring where President Roosevelt would float to help his polio. This water glowed with the magic of unicorns. I can't explain it but I will tell you that I cried when I saw it. I jumped big and had a hard time bringing myself to leave. Did I want to get in? YES. Did I want to jump? YES. Once in a lifetime and - ABSOLUTELY - I was living a YES.
I am an artist. For a very long time I said, "I know there is a painter in there. I just don't know how to let her out." It turns out that life-shaking personal events, more courage than I ever knew I had, and the need for creative therapy is exactly what she needed to make her appearance. My inner artist is still emerging like a slab of stone at the hands of Michelangelo, but it took a few crazy curveballs to get me here. The YES I had to live to get to this point has been ridiculously uncomfortable. Creating art and putting it out there is the equivalent of standing naked in front of a judges' panel of supermodels. I read artists' bio's all the time that say, trained in this or that, featured in this gallery or that magazine, and God, am I envious. But maybe I just need to live the yes now and the rest will come. I literally wanted to die of embarrassment when www.jessieelson.com went live. The idea of having a website that was my name as if I was something important was enough to kill me. Oh God, take me now. But maybe my YES is the way my art speaks to people. Maybe my gift to people is the accessibility of my pieces. Maybe I am able to connect a message with the art I create from the very depths of my soul. Maybe my art is the physical representation of living a yes.
My point is this...whatever your YES is, please PLEASE live it. Be brave. Be bold. Believe in your YES because I just don't think you will regret it for a second. If that sweet little girl was brave enough to fight the beast and still showed everyone how to LIVE A YES, you can do it too. What is it? What are you waiting for? How will you LIVE A YES?
To read more about Lily, read her mom's book, Glitter.
On the back of my sweet minivan is a big ol' sticker that says, "LIVE A YES." I like the idea of it and I really love Lily's mama so I can absolutely get on board. All fine and good until you sit and wonder if you are really living a yes. I asked Jennifer what it means to her and her answer was this, "Means different things to different people. Some people deep meaning, some not so deep. Like putting away your shopping cart at Publix is living a yes but so is devoting your life to Jesus. Its a wide range. I will have to talk with you about it." We will talk about it, but the reality is, Lily's Run is coming up and long chatty lunches are probably not in the stars for a few weeks. So with her encouragement, I will tell you my version of LIVE A YES.
One of the greatest fears of my life was that time was running out for me. I feared time flowing so quickly as I just sat watching opportunity escape me. Somehow, I found the courage to determine that my life, my dreams, my ambitions and goals, the love of my children was worth the struggle, the courage, and the bravery to blaze my own trail. From the moment the fog cleared, I can tell you with every ounce of my being that I have been living a yes. I want to share several life-changers with you...times when YES was scary but I did it anyway.
Truth be known, I am an extrovert who occasionally suffers from a bit of social anxiety and fear of commitment. When one of my dearest friends from high school asked me to meet her several hours away at a place I had never been with people I had never met, it would have been so easy to say no. I could have come up with a million (lame) reasons why it wasn't a good idea, but I didn't and that weekend turned out to be a once in a lifetime experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. I jumped into a crystal blue, fresh water spring from 10 feet in the air...the same spring where President Roosevelt would float to help his polio. This water glowed with the magic of unicorns. I can't explain it but I will tell you that I cried when I saw it. I jumped big and had a hard time bringing myself to leave. Did I want to get in? YES. Did I want to jump? YES. Once in a lifetime and - ABSOLUTELY - I was living a YES.
I am an artist. For a very long time I said, "I know there is a painter in there. I just don't know how to let her out." It turns out that life-shaking personal events, more courage than I ever knew I had, and the need for creative therapy is exactly what she needed to make her appearance. My inner artist is still emerging like a slab of stone at the hands of Michelangelo, but it took a few crazy curveballs to get me here. The YES I had to live to get to this point has been ridiculously uncomfortable. Creating art and putting it out there is the equivalent of standing naked in front of a judges' panel of supermodels. I read artists' bio's all the time that say, trained in this or that, featured in this gallery or that magazine, and God, am I envious. But maybe I just need to live the yes now and the rest will come. I literally wanted to die of embarrassment when www.jessieelson.com went live. The idea of having a website that was my name as if I was something important was enough to kill me. Oh God, take me now. But maybe my YES is the way my art speaks to people. Maybe my gift to people is the accessibility of my pieces. Maybe I am able to connect a message with the art I create from the very depths of my soul. Maybe my art is the physical representation of living a yes.
My point is this...whatever your YES is, please PLEASE live it. Be brave. Be bold. Believe in your YES because I just don't think you will regret it for a second. If that sweet little girl was brave enough to fight the beast and still showed everyone how to LIVE A YES, you can do it too. What is it? What are you waiting for? How will you LIVE A YES?
To read more about Lily, read her mom's book, Glitter.
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