Divine Apprentice

Have you ever wondered what your life mission is, or what you’re supposed to be doing other than what you’re currently doing?

I didn’t know that my creative preferences would change over the years. I thought that when I got interested in a creative endeavor for an extended period of time – in my case paper crafting – it would be my creative calling. I discovered this not to be the case. I expressed my creativity in many different forms, confused about being indecisive and ignorant to the fact that I could have more than one creative form of expression.

I have always liked writing. I remember keeping a diary during my teenage years. I also wrote short stories, essays, and poems. Somehow all that stopped when I became an adult, busy and caught up first, in establishing a career, then in caring for my family. It wasn’t until I became interested in scrapbooking that I began to write again. Unlike most scrapbookers, I enjoyed journaling my layouts.

Then there’s sketching or should I say, doodling. What is it exactly anyway? A bunch of squiggles and rough shapes of different things that sometimes only make sense to the creator of the drawing, right? People are making money selling how-to books on doodling. Again, I found myself, as a scrapbooker, drawn to this form of “art”. I also realized that for a long time now, I’ve doodled a set of images over and over again. I never used the drawings anywhere; I just doodled them now and then when the mood struck.

That’s when it occurred to me that I had mistaken the lull in my paper crafting interest as a creative block when it was more a periodic cycling of my creative interests. I used to get frustrated when I couldn’t come up with paper crafting ideas. I’d call on the Divine for help but nothing happened (or so I thought). And when I got frustrated and guilty, I wrote about it.

To me, blogging was “piddling”, not writing. All I was doing was typing my random thoughts, doing minor editing, then publishing. I wrote when I felt like it. I never thought something through properly nor organized my ideas enough to produce a piece worthy of being published formally.

Then it hit me. I was never solely a paper crafter after all. I was never even creatively blocked. My creativity was just taking the scenic route. I now know that so far, I have three forms of creative expression: paper crafting, sketching, and writing. With this new knowledge, I feel more at ease and “comfortable in my skin”. I understand that I can develop another creative outlet anytime and that it won’t make sense at first, just exciting; and that’s perfectly fine. I remember the feeling of being nudged towards something confusing, but only when I resist. I now know Who’s directing. The Divine has guided me and will continue to do so. All I need to do is be a willing apprentice. How much simpler can it get?

This is why this blog, Divine Apprentice, came to be. I use it to honor my creative self. I don’t know what my next project will be or when it’ll be finished. That’s all up to the Divine. I am but an apprentice.

Welcome!

Marcia Weaver is a scrapbook artist. She is a former software engineer turned full-time mother who started scrap booking to create something for herself that didn’t involve school activities and play dates. She is a firm believer in leaving her legacy through the many decorated pages of her scrapbooks. Writing has been very instrumental in helping her achieve this goal. Over the last 10 years, she has taught workshops, serving as a teacher/mentor and creativity coach to others. With her open, nurturing, and encouraging teaching style she empowers them to achieve their goals. Marcia has been married for 14 years to her husband, Doug. They have an 11-year old daughter, Gabrielle, and a 3-year old dog, a Bichon named Winter.