Talents

"Don't make a cemetery of your life by burying your talents" This quote came from the Our Daily Bread daily devotional for June 9. When I read it my mind immediately pictured a cemetery with the following Here lies Janes talent to draw....1959-1979.......Here lies Janes talent to write songs ....1959-1980....Here lies Janes talent to do crafts 1959-1990....Here lies Janes talent to design flowers....1959-1978.....resurrected 1999 and now in a coma! Now I know that my talent didnt really die, my creative self got hidden under a bunch of stuff in one of my spiritual suitcases. But for all intents and purposes, they were dead...couldnt see them anywhere...to look at my home you would never think there is a creative bone in my body. Nothing hanging on the walls, nothing sitting around that says..."Jane made this". My creativity in flower designing came back to me in 1999. It was very much a "God Thing" because I really wasn't thinking about getting into the business of flowers. Pretty much what happened was, I was on unemployment...trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up!!!!! I applied at a local flower shop for a cashier position and was hired within 3 days to be a designer...wasnt really looking for that, but hey....here it is. When I graduated high school, it was expected of me to go to college...particularly in the field of business as it relates to money. My mother and step father both worked at a credit union and I started working there when I was 15, anyway, I wanted to go to flower design school. Of course that was the silliest, stupidest thing anyone in my family ever heard, but I was 18, out of school, had a job and I felt that I owed it to myself to explore it. I went through all the classes. I was praised at school and pretty much ridiculed at home....things like "you'll never make any money doing that" "its nice, but does it pay very much?" Needless to say, I settled into a job at a bank. Not that I didnt do that well, I did and climbed the corporate ladder pretty quickly, but I always had this incredible aching inside, like I was missing something. When I landed the job at the flower shop, I was sent to school from there for 3 yrs. I loved working with the flowers, it gave me that something that I ached for, a feeling of Joy when I created arrangements. I decided to start out on my own and started my own business with my husband,out of our home, it was called Only By Grace Flowers and Things. In the beginning I loved it, but unfortunately, it didnt work, for many reasons.I had to close up shop and get a "real" job...I am again experiencing that ache...ok, all that to say this....I recognize that God has given me many talents, some of which have been buried for a long time, some are in an "on hold" state and some I work with daily. I am so thankful that I now, after all these years have the ability to see that these talents are part of who God designed me to be and that I have you, my reflective souls group to help inspire me. Thank you!