My True Colors Years

Did you know that leaves don't actually turn yellow and orange and red in the fall?  They have always been those beautiful colors, we just couldn't see it. 
 
Carotenoids are the yellow, orange and red pigments that give leaves their color.  Throughout Spring and Summer, chlorophyl - the green pigment necessary for water absorption - is present in such large amounts that it overpowers the others.  In the fall, when the weather cools and the days get shorter, the trees respond by producing less and less chlorophyll, until it stops altogether and the tree's "true colors" can show through.

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  - Luke 12:2 

I've always heard that scripture used in the negative - you can't hide your mistakes and bad choices; you'll be found out eventually.  But I think it applies to the flip side also.  The beauty and talent hidden in you can't be stifled and "hidden under a bushel" forever.  Eventually, the things and people who act as chlorophyl will become less necessary, less intrusive, and allow your true colors to show through.

Raising children, school activities, church committees, housekeeping, cooking, baking, work, laundry - putting every ounce of energy into family and home was my chlorophyl for many years.  After the kids left home, and I voted not to cook anymore, there were chunks of time freed up for... for what? 

At first I didn't know what to do with the time, but then a hint of yellow started to peek through . . . and I discovered painting.   Then there was a streak of orange, and I cared a bit less about public perception.  A tinge of red - just around the edges - and a tinge of self-confidence followed.  Slowly but surely the chloraphyl is fading and my true colors are starting to show.  

Of course I mourned the loss of chlorophyl at first.  Being a mom, a librarian, a class sponsor, a vacation bible school teacher and all the other titles, were my purpose, my identity and my protection.  I felt like Kermit the frog without them - sitting all by myself on a rock singing "It's Not Easy Being Green."  But after nearly 10 years, the green is almost gone and I'm loving the new colors -- the TRUE colors.  I'm dubbing the next 25 years - God grant that I should have that many - the True Colors Years.  The years that I won't be overshadowed, or forced to conform.  I will be transformed into the beautiful creation I really always was.

Welcome to Creating Me

And so begins my "Jubilee Year", the year I start dancing through life.  I have experienced some of life's major events in the past 18 months, and am feeling the need to reevaluate, redefine, re-prioritize, re-...re-...re-...

Re: a prefix meaning "again" (redo), "again and again" (repeat), or "back" (retrace).

I began a blog in 2009.  As a librarian and mother of two teenagers, it focused on book reviews, book events, and the follies and foibles of parenting semi-adults.  It has set, basically unused for the past two years, and I miss the creative and therapeutic outlets, not to mention the friends I made.  In keeping with my Jubilee, I am reinventing the blog rather than resuscitating it.  

Creativity has become an overriding theme in my life.  We are created in the image of our Creator, therefore the desire and ability to create exists in us all, it just expresses itself in different ways and on different levels.  I have always been a "crafter" but never considered myself an "artist".  Since taking up watercolor and acrylic painting, junk journaling, multi-media art, and even crochet in the past few years, I have rethought my definition of an artist.  I create unique items that are pleasing to me - and sometimes to others.  The joy is in the process and, in the wise words of Ricky Nelson, "You can't please everyone so you've got to please yourself." 

There's a lot more to be created here - in me and on the blog. I hope you'll come by and walk this jubilee journey with me as I review some mistakes, reshape my vision of success, reexamine my faith and, most of all, REJOICE in gifts given and received.