Am I an Artist?

I consider myself a creative person.  Most days the right side of my brain is working in over drive and I wonder if the left side is even functioning.   I love nothing more than to craft and create.  I do it in my sleep.  Seriously, in my sleep.  I once dreamt up a creative way to package teacher gifts.  I am not at all a type A person.   I can easily space off one of Cade’s orthodontist appointment that has been on the calendar for two months, but I could tell you what the name of every paint color in any room of my house, my mother-in-laws house, or my first house.  My mind sees color, shapes, and lines.  It does not see numbers, words, and equations.  I blame my horrible spelling ability on this exact thing.  If in my mind it looks right, it is right.  For years I believed that being right-brained (creative) was less desirable than being left-brained (logical).  I refused to take those stupid tests that pegged you as a left or right brained person because I knew what the answer was going to be, and I didn’t like it.  Over the years I have come to embrace my right-sidedness.  I have learned to love the person that God has created me to be.  I have stopped convincing myself that my kids are going to be scarred for life because I once forgot to send them to a birthday party or because I can’t help them with their algebra.  Instead, I have reminded myself that the time, energy, and a serious creative juices put into planning their birthday parties is what will be remembered.  Lest you think I am a total air head and horrible mother…I remember most things.  Okay, so I have digressed a bit, but we’ll just chalk it up to “therapy”.  It’s good for me to get that out once and awhile.  Back to the title of the post.  Am I an artist?  I am a creative person, but can I really consider myself an artist?  My short answer is “NO”!  And, if you want to confirm that answer with Mr. Ted De Hoogh you just go right ahead.  I am sure that he will attest to that.  I am confident that he doesn’t remember many of his students artistic abilities, but I am sure he will remember mine…and not for good reason.  Even in spite of all my creative ability, I can not draw, paint, or sculpt to save my life.  I am not an artist!  So I thought…

‘There needs to be a homemaker exercising some measure of skill, imagination, creativity, desire to fulfill needs and give pleasure to others in the family.

How precious a thing is the human family….  Does anything come forth without work?

The family is an art form.

And if human relationships are to be beautiful on a wider form,

the individual families making up a society have to be really worked on by someone who understands that

artists have to work to produce their art.”

~ Edith Schaeffer, What is a Family?

I am so excited about the new title that I have added to my résumé.  I have the excerpt above taped on the front of my fridge as a reminder to me.  It is a daily reminder that  crafting a family is an art form.  It takes time, attention, skill, and hard work.  Just as an artist would not expect to approach her canvas and see a beautifully painted landscape without having picked up her brush, I cannot expect my family to evolve into something beautiful without “picking up my brush”.  It will take time, energy, skill, and the grace of God to craft my family into something beautiful.  I know there will be days when I will want to crumple up the paper and start my painting again, or smash my piece of pottery into a lump of clay.  Those days I will ask the most talented Artist I know to guide my brush.  I will ask for His help and just keep on crafting.  I am committed.  I am committed to being an artist!