using it all up

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.-Erma Bombeck

I started this blog in March of 2011 when I was working through The Artist's Way with a group of women at my church. I have had a blog...or two or three...for several years now, but this one was inspired by my work in that book which encourages us to find our inner artist and to let her thrive.

If my friend Kelley is reading: you can stop rolling your eyes now.

Anyway, after some thought I decided I wanted a place to share my photography and my writing. I was going to break away from an earlier blog I had diligently written for years but which was of no interest to any one other than myself since all I did was drone on and on about my fitness and diet ups and downs.

Please notice, I'm not sharing the link to that snoozer of a blog anywhere here.

When looking for a name for this blog, I found the quote above by humorist Erma Bombeck. Honestly, I was surprised to find such a serious quote from the woman I had previously admired for this witty observation:

They say you can tell how exciting your life is by the hour you get into your nightclothes. 

Sometimes we have to change our pajamas because we dribbled our dinner onto them.

*rimshot*

The quote for which my blog is named truly resonates with me and the path I have been on for the last couple of years. I'm really striving to inventory the gifts God gave me and figure out how He would like me to employ every one of them. 

And, let me tell you, it's a challenge when you realize that you are such a strange collection of things. (An accountant and a photographer? Really?) I'm starting to appreciate this set of gifts, though, and can truly start to say:

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! You workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it.

-Psalm 139:14 (NLT)

  I am taking part in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo this month...30 straight days of blogging. Join me, won't you? There are prompts to get you started and everything.