Sometimes the path we thought we were meant to take leads us somewhere completely different.

 

This painting began with a very clear idea in my mind, but as it unfolded, it asked me to let go of that vision and trust a different direction. Looking back, I can’t imagine it any other way.

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It reminded me of those seasons in our own lives when we hold tightly to the future we thought we wanted, only to discover something more aligned waiting for us in another direction.

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Juvenile gum trees carry two identities at once. Their young leaves are soft, round and almost coin-shaped, while their mature leaves become long and slender, hanging gracefully from the branches.

 

For a while, they hold both forms simultaneously - existing somewhere between who they have been and who they are becoming.

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I think we do this too.

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There are seasons where we are no longer who we were, but we haven't quite become who we're going to be. These in-between seasons can feel uncertain, but perhaps they are where some of our most important growth happens.

 

Perhaps becoming ourselves isn't about becoming someone entirely new.

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Perhaps it is about slowly returning to the person we were always meant to be.

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I hope this Tree reminds you to be gentle with your younger self, grateful for the path that brought you here, and trusting of the season of becoming you're walking through now.