Being creative during challenging times can become a desire more than an activity.  I think it is good at times to have ideas percolating in your mind waiting for the time of fulfillment. After the thinking, I am ready to engage!  I had a plan for my summer.  Working in education gives me the opportunity to have my summers free to do things I am not always able to do during the school year.  I had planned to pursue a new medium in my art journey and learn to paint with pastels.  I had been studying, buying supplies, practicing a little, eagerly waiting for vacation. I was charged up, ready to go.

In June we discovered a leak under the house that had been doing its damage for some time and soon I was storing items in my art studio while the underside of our house was cleaned out, appliances and a toilet put outside for a few days (which turned into a month), refrigerator in the living room, and the rest of the kitchen and utility spread all over the house. 

I quickly learned that it was hard to be creative, let alone learn a new art medium, in that environment.  While waiting for repairs, I decided to paint walls taking advantage of the flooring being gone.  (That’s being creative, right?)  Then came the time for the new flooring, so the dishwasher was pulled away from the wall and we discovered mold the length of the kitchen wall from a previous leak.  More demolition and more items moved to the art studio.  Summer was fleeing and the pastels were put away in a drawer.   We ended up painting the outside of our home, so I was too tired to think of putting art down on paper, and it was time to go back to work.

I have been back in school now for two months and I was thinking how we plan, and sometimes those plans are derailed.  I noticed a couple of things lately.   I had to trim our shrubs back to accommodate painting and repair.  The forsythia had some blossoms in September!  It blooms in February where I live.  The roses had been cut back quite low and I hoped I had not done too much damage since I do that kind of pruning in early spring.  New growth came and I saw rose buds the other day.  I planted a raspberry start in the spring, and in late September I picked ripe, red berries for breakfast for a couple of weeks.  That is the wrong time of the year for raspberries!

I am encouraged that God rules the seasons, but He is not ruled by them. If He wants to cause something to bloom out of season, He does!  I love that God brings fruit out of the hard times in our lives, when we can’t even see the possibility of fruit, let alone, a harvest.

God is so creative!!

And…we are created in His image!

For the rest of the story…my house is partially put back together, although the kitchen sink is still outside.  I have cleared a space on my art table and have started a 30-day challenge.  For the month of October, I am doing a piece every day with the time limit of 30 minutes and using a medium that I am not familiar with, (this is called “Inktober”)  While I wait for my home to get put back together, I am learning to watercolor, and to look for the fruit of patience in my life.  I think I saw some the other day!