We each come into this world with our own natural talent which is often discovered early in childhood. Many creative talents are applauded and appreciated when we are young, but interest and support often fade later in our school years as we plan futures that provide income and security. For many of us there is little time to pursue the pastimes that gave us the most pleasure as children. Maybe we still sing in our church choir or go out for Karaoke once in a while. We might still pick up our guitar once in a while or sit down at the piano. Maybe we craft or paint when we can and for many the weekly Zumba class has become the only time we actually feel like we did as a kid in dance class. 

My mother was a homemaker with six children. She didn’t always have time for it, but she was an artist who painted with oils. As a child I would watch her create beautiful seascapes, blending blues and greens with white paint on her palette to get just the right color of the water against a stormy sky. I truly loved watching her sketch her portraits with charcoal and I marveled as she created clear piercing eyes that seemed to look straight at me from the canvas. She was hard on herself, always striving to be better, and often ended up scraping over her work and starting over a few times before signing her name at the bottom. She put that same creative energy into interior design and poetry when she had time.

My father was a railroad telegrapher and a technical writer who became a very successful author. He wrote novels primarily, creating powerful characters and compelling stories which came to life first in his head, and then on the page. Much of his creative process was private but sometimes he would let me read the pages as they came off the typewriter. You know that image of the iconic writer with an old manual typewriter, using carbon paper for copies, cigarette hanging from his mouth, downing cup after cup of highly sweetened black coffee? That was my dad. Also a musician, he played what I think was a Lowery organ every night. Looking back, I am sure music was to him a very therapeutic way to step away from the book in progress. He also sang while he played and I often fell asleep listening to his music. It was my father who first taught me to play.

Watching my parents in their creative pursuits was always inspiring to me. The look in their eyes reflected a private conversation between themselves and God. They weren’t asking or answering questions, fixing problems or performing ordinary tasks. They were listening to and following pure inspiration and translating what they felt into art. Certainly they became frustrated at times, but for the most part, their facial expression revealed pure satisfaction and catharsis. 

Music and theatre became my main means of creative expression. You see, I am not a talented visual artist like my mother, nor a great novelist like my father. I was fortunate to have some musical talent and parents who saw to my training. I truly had an amazing life as a performer that lasted twenty-five years and I am so grateful to my parents for their belief in me and for their help all those years ago as I was getting started. My late husband was my musical partner and he taught me so much and inspired me every single day of our incredible thirty-eight years together. If that was all I was given I would of course be one of the luckiest people on this earth. But there is more!

Being an arts educator takes me all the way back to what charmed me in my childhood, watching my parents create what gave them such pleasure. Now it is the look in my students’ eyes which inspires me. Watching their faces for the tell-tale signs; the satisfaction and cathartic release delivered through the manifestation of their own unique creative talents. I feel so blessed and honored to help them discover how better to trust and translate the message meant only for them in that special conversation that is key to the true creative process. 

God continually creates through each of us, offering inspiration which we process through the prism of our own talents and proclivities. We are happiest when we listen, understand and act on the messages received. To create something using the gifts and talents born with us and developed through effort and time offers us true satisfaction, catharsis and a way to grace others. As I write this today I am filled with gratitude for the opportunities to work with so many gifted, aspiring young artists and adults alike, remaining true to the expression of their God-given talents. I truly hope that if you are reading this you will take a moment to reflect on what creative pursuits make you happiest, and that you will give yourself permission to reclaim that special time for yourself, when you can hear and act on the inspiration which still calls you.