I love words. I love knowing where they came from, how they evolved. Words. Just words themselves.
I'd like to introduce you to my new favorite word: Pentimento. Pen-ti-men-to. It's a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas. It is an alteration in a painting, evidenced by visible traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his or her mind about the composition during the process of painting. The word is Italian for repentance, from the verb pentirsi, meaning to repent.
And since I love words I'd like to tell you another great one Teshuvah. Te-shu-vah. It often gets translated as repent-but what the word means in Hebrew is brilliant. It's to return.
To return.
When I start to paint, I don't know what the end result will be. Its a process of making one move, one choice, after another. As much as I'd like to know the ending, I can't. The process doesn't work that way. But I know that I can trust the choices I make, because when I make a choice that is not in alignment, I know. And there is something about Grace, that makes those steps, those wandering choices, transformatively beautiful. Perfection is boring, my friends. And you can either strive to be perfect and admired. Or you can show up in authenticity, beautiful scars and all, and be loved.
For those of you making choices today, and the stakes are high, and you are afraid that you'll screw it all up. But you can know if you've wandered off the path. You can return. The invitation is always to return.