PALETTE TALK
Talkin’ about watercolor, art, and life

The sounds and images of Spring fill me up to overflowing today. What rich beauty. What reminders of hope in the fresh new growth that surrounds us. 

My husband and I live on the edge of town in a wooded area. It was a wonderful adventure for the children when they were growing up here and now for the grandchildren who explore the woods and nearby creek. My husband, Ernie, is always ready to get out the mower and equipment that helps him keep his organic yard growing and we both delight in the  new growth that surrounds our house. Each year he is amazed that his physical energy lessens  but continues to take great joy in nurturing the natural growth that springs forth.

When the children were young we planted a plum tree and watched with anticipation as it bloomed the first year. We knew not to expect fruit yet, just watched it grow as it was meant to do. Two years later the weather was rather harsh and our plum tree ceased to bloom or grow. My husband is always ready to give people and plants lots of time to recuperate and begin growing again and so we left it and waited. I don’t know how much longer it was but yes, we did see new growth. What a wonderful sight to see! But strangely the blooms and leaves grew only on half of the tree; the other half remained as if dead. We soon learned from a horticulturalist friend that plums are often grafted into native peach trees that grow well in our climate. We had a “pleach” tree! It still blooms out one side of the tree and produces those very tiny native peaches that the birds and squirrels always find as they begin to ripen.

I’ve thought a lot about our little tree. Man meant for it to be a plum tree but by nature was intended to be a peach tree and produce peaches. As I inspected the beautiful peach blossoms today I couldn’t help but think about how much like the peach tree we are. Created and gifted for a purpose and sometimes encouraged by circumstances and the world view to be something else.  What joy and peace there is in being what you were created to be. As I think back to nurturing and watching the fruit tree grow, I realized we also nurtured and watched our children as they grew. The weather of life was rather harsh sometimes but they always struggled through. The result is that they are growing and “producing” as God intended for them to. They each grew into very different people designed and created for different purposes.  What a blessing to have been given the responsibility of helping nurture these precious souls. I delight in watching them nurture and encourage growth in their own children.

Have a blessed day.  And if you are in the area join me at the Great Plains Art Show on Southeastern Oklahoma State University campus. The reception is in the Center Gallery, Visual and Performing Arts Center, April 8^th at 6:00 pm and the exhibit is open to the public from 10:00 until 5:00 Mon. – Fri. through the month of April.