No one likes having their skin ripped off!

Where have you been?!!!

Oh.  That's right.  I'm the one who has been conspicuously absent.  All I can really say by way of explanation is that life happens.  For the last 6-8 months I have been battling health issues.  Blessedly, I finally seem to have come out the other side and am on the way to feeling more like myself.

The funny thing is, the days, weeks, months where I literally couldn't do anything turned out to be one of the biggest gifts that I have ever received.  God certainly got my attention and together we got to know each other better.  Well, it's more like I got to know myself and Him better - He pretty much already knows EVERYTHING.  I am humbled that He would care so much for me that He would go to all that trouble to have my undivided attention.  Through the whole process I felt a bit like Eustace.

If you have ever read C.S. Lewis' "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", you will remember the adventure of Eustace and the dragon.  Eustace is pretty much a self-centered twit.  Apparently we have that in common. Eustace discovers a dragon horde, puts on a shiny bracelet, and falls asleep, waking up as a dragon.  At first he revels in his draconic abilities, but soon realizes that his transformation has come with a price.  His fellow adventurers no longer recognize and even fear him.  He is alone and he realizes that it was not they who needed to change but him.  He wishes he could join them again.  Soon Aslan, the powerful lion comes and tells him to tear off his outer dragon skin.  Eustace painfully rips it off, thinking he is done.  Nope, says Aslan.  Sure enough, the dragon skin is still there.  Eustace tries again, peeling off an even thicker layer, the pain even greater than before. Still not enough, Aslan says.  Finally, Aslan himself rips off an unbelievably thick layer.  Eustace is in agony, but then is light and free - himself again, but better.  He rejoins his companions and is a different person.

I feel that I too am a different person - the same, yet better for having endured this process of ripping off the false skin.  And, like Eustace, I couldn't do it by myself - I needed that higher power.

I'm not sure what this will mean to my art.  It can't help but have an effect and this may take some time, but I have learned to be patient.  I have missed communicating with you, however.  So in the meantime, I thought I might share some of your and my favorite blogs from the past, while we are waiting for new ones.  If I have not included a blog that you loved, please let me know.  I'd love to hear from you.  Also, if you would like to comment on a past blog, please do so on this most recent blog.  Google does not let me know when someone has commented on a past blog and since I don't go back to them all and check, I would never see it if you posted it there.  That would be a shame!  I love to read what you have to say.

I look forward to hearing from you and sharing new work.

Favorite posts:

Call Me Beowulf
K.B. Carpenter and Other Mean Flowers
Defining My Values
Reflecting on Water
Having Faith
The Implications of Dormancy
Fast and Loose
Dressing for Success
Raindrops on Roses
Step by Step
Coming Home
Running Hot and Cold
My Kingdom for a Crumpet
On Being a Prime Number
Dueling Dragons - News From the Front
Band of Brothers
Channeling Norman Bates
Add Killer Bunnies to the List
Dragon Evolution
Stop and Smell the Ros...SNAKES!!
The Case of the Missing Dragon
How About a Story?
You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello
Time Is On My Side
Reinventing the Wheel
Fold Or All In?