Painting the Town, Blue & Brown

Most of you know that I'm not crafty. And I don't lose sleep over knowing that about myself. One of my closest friends, Lisa, made sure that all of my MOPS mommies knew about my lack of creative skills, when she visited and was our special speaker at our December MOPS meeting last year. Since then, I've been teased A LOT (thanks Lisa!), and have been so tramatized, that I have an even harder time being crafty (did I mention that I'm also a drama queen??!!). Crafts is no fun if you don't have somebody to help pass the time as you participate in a feeble attempt to be creative. Okay, okay...it's no fun if IIIIIII don't have somebody to help pass the time as IIIIIII participate in a feeble attempt to be creative!

I've learned something about creativity lately, though, and I'll share that with you in a minute.

My feeble attempt led me to Liza Moz tonight. Actually, my friend and MOPS Sister, Erica, led me there. She's been fussing at me about not participating in our MNO's (Mothers Night Out). So I decided I'd go and try something different. Being crafty is different for me. Fortunately, last week, Summerlyn used her "kid coupon" that she had earned, to drag us all to Liza Moz. Okay...she was dragging ME, and the other kids actually wanted to go. We went, we painted, we made a mess, and we actually had fun! The fish tile is my handiwork. Cute, huh?

Back to tonight.

As we all chose our pottery pieces and colors, we started blabbing and painting (a dangerous combination for me!). At Liza Moz, you definitely want to pay attention to what you're doing, because you just about have to take out a loan to purchase your piece of pottery there. So I'm painting away with my chocolate brown colored paint, holding my football stencil (should be easy with a stencil, right?!), when a lady who works there came over to see what we were doing and asked me if I'd outlined the stencil with a pencil before beginning to paint.

"Uuuuuhhhhh...no." I said. "Well, your paint is going to bleed. You need to always outline your stencil first." she told me. I pulled the football stencil away, and sure enough...

it looked like Luke had painted it!

To make a long story short, the dude who was our "helper", didn't tell us how to paint the pottery. So my mug was suffering. I asked the lady (who was very nice) if I could have another mug, since our dude didn't tell us how to paint the pottery. She called the owner, who said no...to try washing it off. She washed it, and it was ready to paint again.

Problem was...she totally "went there". She made the comment to me that the owner just couldn't replace every piece of pottery that customers messed up or he'd go out of business.

She left the situation alone after my reply. Which was something like this, "I could understand what you're saying IF the customer messed up their own piece of pottery. BUT, part of the service that we pay for at Liza Moz is directions on how to paint the pottery. SO, that was YOUR fault, not mine. And in THAT case, when YOUR worker fails to supply all of the information needed in order to paint successfully, the piece would need to be replaced by YOU."...or something close to that. "That's the only honest thing to do"...with a "I don't have to come back here" thrown in.

The nice lady went her way and I fussed a little bit, but continued to paint, messing up my football a couple more times before getting it right. Messing up my "swirlies" and resorting to "dots" before finishing up. My sweet MOPS friends got a truly honest look at my skills this evening! And the nice lady and I got along nicely the rest of the night.

It's was truly funny, and we all had a great time!

Now...let me tell you what I've recently learned about creativity. ALL creativity is inspired. By who? you might ask. A child...a lover...a friend...beautiful scenery...or maybe a simple desire to make a change. But guess Who inspired those inspirations?

God.

It's that simple.

God is the inspiration for everything we do.

I remember a time a few years back, when a friend of mine and I signed up to decorate and host a table at the annual Spring Tea at our church. We were rackin' our brains trying to think of a spectacular centerpiece for our table. Something unique...different. I was sitting in the floor of my living room one Saturday, talking out loud to myself about what to do, when the Lord whispered something to me...just like He was sitting on the couch leaning over my shoulder.

He said...Bunny.

.

Bunny? I thought...as in...B*U*N*N*Y?

Yes Carmen.

Oh...REAL funny, Lord.

I'm serious.

Okay, SERIOUSLY, Lord...I need a reasonable idea...I'm not playin'.

You could reasonably have a live bunny for your centerpiece.

Lord...ummmm...really?

Yep.
So I very excitedly called my friend, who laughed and said I was crazy, but agreed to a live bunny as a centerpiece for our table. I can't tell you how incredibly wild and what a tremendous blessing that was to ALL who encountered the live-bunny centerpiece at the annual Spring Tea! I still hear about it!!! And ask anyone who knew me then...I've told them that God gave me that idea. He inspired me that Saturday afternoon.

Maybe you don't know God. I mean really know Him. Talk to Him daily. Read the Bible, where He's placed all the answers for your life today. Believe Him. Trust Him. Do you?

.

Well...He's been teaching me that while being creative with paint, scissors, a sewing machine (Mom...YOU'RE the sewist!!!!), or even in putting together a beautiful room, may not be exciting for me, He can inspire even me to participate in things that I thought He'd forgotten to bless me with (like writing my name...for you dear MOPS girls!). He is the inspiration for ALL creativity, whether you realize it or not.

You ARE the way you ARE because He MADE you that way!

So whether you have a personal relationship with Him or not, you are still HIS handiwork...HIS painting project...HIS Liza Moz pottery piece. In fact, He doesn't just paint you, He actually molded you in the beginning, and seeks to perfect you now. There are so many times that He has to wash you off and start again...or take our mess and make it work.

But in the end, you're beautiful. Because HE says so. Because HE inspired you.

And God don't make no junk...