I have not always
liked being female. There have been
times in my life when I thought that being a man would be so much more
fulfilling. But more and more, I love
being a woman.
I feel like a
wine that has been marinating for a while.
It is starting to ripen and the taste is improving. I know that my life
has been brief compared to many. I do not speak only about myself, but for all
women who have courageously lived some life.
I love the
variety of creativeness in women. No two
women are alike. Women are as varied as
the differing patterns and colors of a lovingly handmade quilt. Yes, men are
creative, but women, women have a creativity all their own. Artistry softens our lives, because our days and hours encompass
so many things. We have been designed to embrace life with an artistic
flair.
Circumstances and
people can attempt to suppress the gifts in a woman’s life, but if a creative spark
is there, it will glow, however muted it may be.
One of the key
things in my life has been the people who saw the gifts and talents I have and
called me to use them. My father has
always been my number one creative cheerleader.
He has never told me that I should not try to do something or that I
could not do something. He has always
believed in who God has made me to be.
He helped to forge a foundation in my life that would enable me to take
risks and make big leaps of faith. Thank you,
Dad. Thank you, everyone who helped in
pouring the beautiful creative foundation of my life.
I enjoy telling
other women, no matter what the age, to “go for it!” It is a joy to see women walking in what they
were destined to do. It is like seeing a
fine piece of art. When you get up close
to the real thing, it is always bigger and clearer than what you thought it would
be. You see the details that made it
great.
But I am all too
aware of the times in my life, and in others’ lives, when fear dampens the
creative flow. Fear is the enemy of the
joyful creative life. What if this does
not turn out to be what I think it will be?
What if others never understand me?
What if it costs me a great deal?
Truth and love
are the fire that reignites the creative soul.
Speaking, reading, hearing, meditating, and living the truth turns into
courageous faith. Love cushions us when
the naysayers come. Love heals the
wounds of the failures of the past.
Are you a
woman? Embrace it! You have been creatively made and have a
creative intention. Are you a man? Speak truth and love to the women that you
know. Call them to live a courageous
creative life, and you will be blessed by them!
Are you someone who believes themselves to be uncreative? Do not compare yourself to another, do what
you love to do and bless someone else.
Even making a bed can be a great creative endeavor.
Anna Mary
Robertson was born into a farming family with ten children in the 1860s. She went on to marry and live the life of a farmer’s
wife and had ten children herself. The
hardness of life drew out her creativity.
Instead of becoming bitter at the end of her life, she
made art. Grandma Moses shared with all
of us her love of the simple ways of life through her paintings. But, her creativity began long before the
first painting dried in her daughter’s home. She had been embellishing her life with art
for a long time.
I want to go into my future embellishing
everything around me. Like the woman of
the poet in Proverbs 31, I want to wear strength and dignity so that I can
laugh at the days to come. Oh, let me
not eat the bread of idleness, but let me hold and taste the fruit of my hands. I cannot see what the days ahead will hold,
but I do know that as I use these creative gifts, I will stop and close my
eyes, and smile at the future.
~ Your Fellow
Sojourner
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