We're at that time of year here in the serene north where daylight hours are precious and few. The sun doesn't rise until about 9:00 AM and my children usually rise earlier than that. The sun sets before 5:00 PM. It is the time of year of much yawning and coffee, my chosen performance enhancing substance. It's either that or go to bed early. Who would want to do that? The hours after bedtime for the younger set in this household are blessedly quiet and demand-free. I can fold laundry at my leisure. Read a book quietly. Work on my Bible studies. Have a cold drink that I don't have to share. Talk to my husband (should that be further up the list than laundry, likely so). Watch a television show without a cutesy theme song and a talking animal.
Crafting, both cross stitch and paper crafting, speaks to my need to create in those late hours. After a full day of endless tasks (aforementioned laundry, meal prep and dishes, housework, child washing) and demands on me to teach and engage (wonderful activities, I know), I crave a little time to use another part of my brain. To use my hands to make something lovely instead of something loving. Just for a while. That's what fulfills the "me me me" that feels need to be heard. I've been thinking about this as I know there are some who think that, at this stage, outside pursuits are frivolous, that all energies should be focused on children and homemaking. Indulge me for a moment as I work with this thought...is it possible that this need to create comes from being made in the image of our Creator? The Genesis account of Creation attests to the diversity of what God made. All things were purposeful but, maybe some creation was for the purpose of beauty and His enjoyment? I heard a cool sermon once (that's about as specific as my memory is of late) that we will never be satisfied here because we were, in the image of God, designed for perfection. I wonder about the connection between this and the need to make something with our hands, something that just speaks to that desire of beauty, symmetry, loveliness.
Okay, serious need for coffee. Above is a card I made a week or two ago with a new Stampin Up! set. The heart is chipboard that I covered in patterened paper and then sanded the edges. The buttons are SU! and the matted edges were distressed with...wait for it...the edge of my fingernail. Enjoy!
6 comments:
Ahhhhhh you are so right. God became human to guide us to find the divine within us. And what is more divine than being a Creator? God has created breathtaking sunsets and tiny infant hands. And so we are compelled to create. We create lovely works with our paper and stamps and fabric and floss. And we create posts that make our friends smile and feel all warm and gooshy inside.
That is a fascinating thought. I wonder what it means about those who are less inclined to create. Perhaps they do create but in less obvious ways. Hmm, quite a lot to ponder.
And boy would I have liked to have heard that sermon! Sounds interesting.
My creating is definitely an extension of allowing God to speak through me and to me of loveliness in the mundane world. Thank you for another beautiful and thought-provoking entry.
Interesting thought about our need to make things with our hands.
Beautiful card!
what a pretty card!!!
man, thanks for this post. You, Mipa, and Tina have really spoke to my heart today.
Renee,
Your writing is simply poetic. I could read your writings for hours. I thank God you decided to start a blog. You truly are a gifted communicator.
Hugs, hon
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