In Celebration by Susan L.

  All of us are given gifts, talents and skills. It takes teachers to teach us. It takes a heart opened to learning. For gifts to grow, they take nurturing and growing. Even exercising grace when mistakes are made is all part of the learning process. Sometimes, things don't work the way we planned. What's the old saying? "Try, try again." Time spent mastering something isn't a waste. It is a sacrificial offering to God, the author of our special abilities.
  There's an amazing speaker on line, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose powerful message, "The Danger of a Single Story" is incredible profound. With poetic mastery, humour and gentleness, she raises the issues of stereotyping, judgements and assumptions. It is aimed at cultural assumptions but the lesson is most applicable to an individual as well.
  When we receive single messages, especially negative ones, they become embraced as truth. Being told we can't, we'll never, is incredibly damaging especially if we learn these things as children. Those toxic words can haunt us the rest of our lives and can suffocate our innate gifts. If we let it.
  It takes courage to fly in the face of those "truths".
  All of us are creative! God, the Great Creator, made us in His image!
  It's one of my greatest pleasures, helping others hone their abilities or discover new ones. Seeing the amazed faces when a project is completed brings joy to my heart.
  This robin was the end result of an acrylic painting workshop. It's about learning to see colours and mix paints.
  Birds have always been something I found most difficult to draw or paint.  Time and again, those toxic words passed my lips, "I can't." But, there he is. Can-ned! It's humbling, how much is learned by teaching.
  Lord, thank You for the gifts You bless us with. Thank You for art, music, and language. Thank You for wood, gardens, and flowerpots. Thank You for design, weaving, and sheep. Thank You for mathematics, engineering, architecture and outside box thinking. Thank You for sculpture, bowls and coloured glass. Thank You for experiments, science and accidental discoveries. This list stretches into eternity!
  Thank You for encouraging us and for providing opportunities that allows the kaleidoscope of creativity to flourish and succeed.
  "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." Prov 11:25