The Artisan Pace.

We live in a world that wants it to be Springtime all the time.
 

We feel like we must always be producing, running, or growing —otherwise, we're failing.

But that doesn't make any sense.

Seasons transition from times of growth and life into times of solitude and rest. This creates balance; we need winter to prepare the way for spring.

Yet, we often fight against winter.
We fight against rest.
Waiting and resting seems like a waste of precious time.

We believe that if we are not striving, we will cease to have enough. If we tackle life with full force, we can make winter a time of production, too.

Some do profit from this way of life, but not without its consequences.

Just as our bodies cannot thrive without an adequate amount of sleep each night, our spirits need times of rest everyday in order to find balance. And not just balance, but contentment and abundance, even in the seasons of life that seem barren.

The lie is that God's Springtime provision is not enough, and we must chase after more to be satisfied.

The secret of the Artisan Pace is that it's not something we toil after. In fact, we have all of the ingredients inside us to accomplish wonderful things. But there are so many other unnecessary so-called "needs" that crowd our lives.

The need to ensure our future and maintain control over something entirely and beautifully unpredictable.
The need to make myself unto a success, all on my terms.
The need to have a plan B in case God fails.
The need to have more, because more means better right?

But the Artisan Pace is backwards from this world.
 

This pace teaches us to slow down —even stop, if necessary. It teaches us to throw away the things that failed us all these years —the pursuit money, the desire to be important, and even the fear of failure.

This pace causes us to step back and see our lives for what they are, even in their most simplified form:

Enough. 

Just as flour has the aptitude to produce and ferment into a sourdough yeast if you wait long enough, so can our hearts change into something new when we wait on our Creator. He had plans for you long ago. Not plans that would leave you exhausted, chasing things that never satisfied. But a plan for a very specific purpose, just as a potter shapes clay as specific vessels of service.

The Secret is that less is actually better.
That success is not measured in what we can acquire but what we already have.

The Artisan Pace protects the small and simple things in life. Once you let the Father grow something new in you, he teaches you to perfect your craft. And instead of seeking how to create a franchise and build an assembly line so you can have more and more and more, you become naturally inclined to seek less. When you become an artisan, like your Heavenly Papa before, you set up a small shop in your community to meet their needs. And your people are drawn to you. Not because you make more but because what you make in unique and wrought with authenticity. The life you make is the one you were made for, and staying true to that will give life to others who will come back for more.

Less, but better. Much better.