I made my family dinner tonight. I cook the way I like to. Tonight, I threw a bag of frozen peas into the microwave. I boiled some water then dumped some elbow macaroni noodles in it. When the noodles were done, I dumped a jar of red sauce on it. Boom! Dinner. Nothing fancy. But I still made dinner.
How I like to make dinner involves researching recipes and making items from scratch. I like to saute fresh vegetables. I like to make my own sauces. I like to cook perfectly tender meat and a delish side made of something hearty- potatoes or pasta or some sort of delicious carb that’s not boxed noodles. But I still made dinner… even though part of it was made in a microwave.
The result was still the same though the process took a much shorter time tonight. My family sat around a table and we laughed and played trivia.
Sometimes, I make art like I LIKE to make art. I have coffee, and it’s morning, and the birds are singing and there’s so much beautiful light the floods into my studio. I get to listen to some wonderful audiobook that inspires me or a beloved musical album.
Sometimes, I make art like I made dinner tonight though. Sometimes I cheat, but collage my drawing onto the canvas (what I consider to be the art version of frozen peas in a microwave). I don’t get to use Windsor & Newton Acrylic paint, but the basic brand from Michaels that was on sale three years ago (this is boxed pasta). But the result is the same. My soul and my heart are fed. I am communicating with my creator and enjoying the talents that have been given me.
And this is what I have to remind myself… just make the dinner… just paint. Maybe it isn’t exactly how I want to cook dinner or exactly how I want to paint. However, my soul and my family need to be fed daily. Although I don’t always do a great job, a good job or an okay job suffices. I have to constantly remember that great is the enemy of good. If I strive to only cook great, my family would starve. If I strive to create greatly, my soul would starve. So I constantly remind myself to just cook, to just create.