Category Archives: Creative Women

Choose Joy – Find Happy

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In just a few days, we will mark the 3rd year that Andrew has been in Heaven. I wrote here that I’m choosing to be joyful this season. No sooner had I finished writing that post than my husband (oblivious to my article on “joy”) looked across the room at me and said, “I’m going to get the Nativity set down from the rafters and put it out this year.”

Confirmation.

I replied, “I was thinking the same thing.”

We were both moved to “choose joy” this season.

Aside from “joy” I’ve also needed a bit of “happy” and I find I’m most in a happy state when I’ve got a creative project going whether that’s writing, preparing to speak or an artistic endeavor like painting.

So I finally picked out a color for my family room and dining room walls. For years they’ve been Shelburne Buff by Benjamin Moore. It’s a great color but I was tired of it.

For quite a while I’ve been wanting a lighter color that would open up my rooms and feel fresh. After perusing many color chips, I settled on this color – Behr’s “Nurture.”You can see it on my wall here. (I had not replaced the switch cover or cut in the corner yet.) It’s just what I was looking for – a blue with gray tone. There’s also just the slightest hint of green in a different light. While my husband was at work I painted most of the two rooms. He finished one wall and did the cutting in. I started at 9:30 a.m and before 10 p.m. the rooms were done!

The next day,on a whim, I picked up a canvas on sale at Michael’s and using some leftover paints, I created an original piece of artwork.

It’s called “Planted” as while I painted it this verse immediately came to mind, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” Psalm 1:3 KJV

Here’s The Message version:

Instead you thrill to God’s Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.

I’ve moved it a couple of times already.

The wall color does not show well in these pictures but I really like it.

This month, especially, I’ve needed to keep my mind busy and having a creative project keeps me in a better mood.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  Happiness is a state of being.
“Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.” Psalm 144:15

I’m choosing JOY and finding HAPPY.

Are you?

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Ain’t I a Woman Now?

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“Ain’t I a Woman Now?”

by Melanie Dorsey

Steady now, as I climb this slippery slope.
See, I’ve just begun to understand
That for all these years – 48 for the record
I’ve sojourned to “become.”

I’ve longed for validation from the outside,
Hoped the crowd would acknowledge
And, embarrassed to say, even celebrate
Some “thing” in me.

Wondered, dreamed and over-analyzed what I ought to be
When I grow up.
Now here I am on the north side of a half century
To make my point, take my stand.

Growing older, growing up and growing spiritually,
I embraced, yea even chased, the process of “becoming.”
And now I see the path has changed its course.
My woman-self has blossomed (What a funny word!)

From the seed of bald and beautiful Baby Girl,
To the wonder years of fun like Christmas morning.
Segue to unsure and awkward days of what I thought was ugly
Then another sun rose and the ugly was not so.

But the stain stayed and no amount of cleaning,
And thinking and wishing it were different made a difference.
A miracle of nature – the hot and blinding light through yonder clouds
Bleached that spot of “never,” “can’t” and “won’t.”

Perhaps ascending hills and stiff-legging it down the valleys
Made me strong and I not knowing.
My lungs breathe deeper now,
And I slow, but not from weariness, only to dig awhile.

I write and recite my poetry
With fingers raking beneath the top soil,
To turn up the richness
Of the midnight black fertility.

My verse is the voice of femininity,
Calling out from the depths of a holy place
Submission and stating my case
Opposite sides – not necessarily.

Steady now, as I find my feet on this new turn in the path.
My prayer, the same as Apostle Paul’s – “to learn to be content.”
I borrow the rhetoricality of Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a woman now?”
I learn my lessons well.

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It’s Not All About the Gravy

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If I could just make gravy, I’d be a real woman!

As a young wife and mother, earning my chops in the kitchen was my measuring stick (cup) for true womanhood.
When my dinner menu called for gravy with rice or potatoes, I’d phone my mother to walk me through the art of making gravy. With the gravitas of an Iron Chef, I stood before my assembled ingredients and the tools necessary for Mother’s tutorial.

  • Pan drippings
  • Water
  • Cast iron skillet
  • Whisk
  • Flour
  • Salt & Pepper

It took me years – I’m not kidding! – to finally get it. Like my mother said, “Once you get it right, you’ll see how easy it really is.” Through trial and error, I eventually understood making gravy is all about ratio. Good gravy must have the right ratio of drippings to flour to water. Too much of one component and it’s either greasy or too thick.

Many years have passed since my first gravy SOS call to Mother. And though my family often brags on my cooking, I no longer consider my success in the kitchen the mark of a real woman. As a Christian, the Bible is my standard and my go-to guide for everything, including what it means to be a real woman.

In a facebook and blog poll I asked women to respond to this question regarding “womanhood”:

“What issues would you be interested in having addressed with biblical insight?”

In order of highest ranking votes, these are the results:

  • Relating to other women
  • Pursuing personal interests/goal
  • Balancing work, church and home

Beginning with “relating to other women,” I’m going to address these topics over the course of several weeks. I hope you’ll join me for True Womanhood – Fully His, Finally Me.

“We are all sisters under the flesh.” ~ Sylvia Gonzales

With all of the ways women connect through church, work, meetings, Bible study groups, children’s sports, and other social activities, why is it sometimes difficult to relate to one another?

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