This is a repost from a year ago when I was closing down my herbal skincare business. I was reading through it yesterday, and loved revisiting what I was processing then, and where I am NOW still sorting out WHAT it is I am to be focusing on.
Collecting Streams
Terra Goods
is Closing for Good
And
this is GOOD NEWS! I am really thrilled to announce that by the end of the
year, Terra Goods will be closing. Possibly sooner if I sell off all of my
remaining stock!
I
have been feeling like I have been on the cusp of transition for a while now,
but wasn’t seeing any external evidence or having a clear direction what to
move towards, but there has been a lot of internal stirring.
Over
the years various writers have stirred me, but few as much as the writing of Lilias
Trotter. Just about all she writes slices through my hardness; she gives words
to the deep stirrings and brings conviction with such gentleness. Here, she
writes about, “Gathered up, focussed lives, intent on
one aim—Christ”
“We see the principle shadowed in the trend of science; the telephone and the wireless in the realm of sound, the use of radium and the ultra violet rays in the realm of light. All these work by gathering into focus currents and waves that, dispersed, cannot serve us. In every branch of learning and workmanship the tendency of these days is to specialize--to take up one point and follow it to the uttermost.
And Satan knows well the power of concentration; if a soul is likely to get under the sway of the inspiration, "this one thing I do," he will turn all his energies to bring in side-interests that will shatter the gathering intensity.
And they lie
all around, these interests. Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen
good harmless worlds at once--art, music, social science, games, motoring, the
following of some profession, and so on, And between them we run the risk of
drifting about, the "good" hiding the "best' even more
effectually than it could be hidden by downright frivolity with its smothered
heart-ache at its own emptiness.”
In
the book The Restless Heart, Ronald Rolheiser explores how loneliness
can cause us to be unable to channel our creative and affective energies in a
meaningful way. He quotes Gregory of Nyssa, using the image of a current of a
stream, how when a spring wells up and its current is divided into many
channels, the flow becomes feeble and lacks any use, but if those currents can
be collected into one, the force and the flow can be of great use!
These
words cut through me! I am a woman of many interests and passions and
curiosities! I have felt that feeling of feeble sluggishness as a dispersed
stream come into my life, where my life flow has been spread out and lacking
current. While I am doing one thing, I am often tracking what needs to get done
in another aspect of my life.
I
am on a journey of “collecting my streams,” and there is an incredible
excitement in it! If this decision to close up shop came even a few months ago,
it might have felt like defeat. But, letting go of something that has taken a
lot of time and resources, so I can pour them into a current that is aligned
with who I was designed to be, well that’s just thrilling! Admittedly, I don’t
know exactly what that will look like in the end, and chances are, this
adjustment will not lead to a destination.
The
more I live life spirit led, the more I realize that in the process of things
is LIFE. In the turns and the adjustments and corrections as I am led, there
are lessons, productive growth, and meaningful connections to be made, and, did
I mention—JOY! As these adjustments get made, I gain clarity. I love plants,
(if you don’t know this already!) but God has clearly said this is about His
people, not about His plants. One of the difficulties of an online business is
the lack of personal connection and community, two things that I highly value
and gain great satisfaction from! So, I will be pursuing more opportunities to
engage personally and in community! Most specifically: as I now have completed
the needed study hours in herbalism, and am in
pursuit of acquiring the remaining 200 clinical hours towards becoming an
American Herbalist Guild registered herbalist, I will pursue working with more
clients. Additionally, I will be taking more opportunities to connect people to
creation and natural health through community engagement, group activities,
workshops, and outdoor adventures!
While
I don’t know where all this will lead, if you would like to stay in touch and
up to date, or you absolutely NEED some natural deodorant, please send your
contact or inquiries to: K8Vaccaro@gmail.com