I have always admired waterlilies.  I love their simple unassuming beauty. 

 A little over a year ago I decided it was time to try painting one.  I was still fairly new to using watercolors but decided to go for it!   I was so excited to get started.  I found my reference photo, meticulously sketched it out, grabbed my paints  and got busy creating.

 I would love to say that this is exactly how I envisioned it would look when I picked up my brush to paint, but I can’t.   Here’s what happened instead.  I had made some good progress when I was called away from my little project.  By the time I was able to get back to it, one of my kids had come and made their mark.  And they made it with a bright blue sharpie!  When I saw what had happened my heart sank.  I quickly went through all the emotions.  I was heart broken, frustrated and just angry.  I was ready to rip it up and throw it away.  My painting had been ruined and the hours I had spent working on it were wasted. 

 Or so I thought.  

Later at the suggestion of a friend I added the blue dragonfly to cover up the marks. This is the end result, and honestly I like it better for the dragonfly. It turns what would have been a fairly ordinary painting into something interesting and beautiful.

 The hard part of course was that I had to choose to paint the dragonfly.  Even though I knew it was an accident my first reaction was to go after “my helper” and tell them what a bad thing they had done. I was angry and hurt and I wanted them to know that. But I had a choice to make. Do I act in anger like I wanted to or do I gently show them the marks they made with grace and a smile. I chose the latter. It was hard, and it certainly didn’t feel good.

 Sometimes in life we have choices to make. How will we respond to the person whose careless words wounded us? What do we do when an injustice is being done towards us? And someone please tell me what do you do when your toddler dumps an entire container of yoghurt on the kitchen floor and then plays slip and slide!

 Although sometimes it hurts and doesn’t feel good, I choose to love and forgive.

This is what I think of when I see this painting now.  I am so glad that I had an opportunity to turn something ready for the rubbish bin into something beautiful.