I am finding, despite what I believed when I was younger, that I enjoy solitude. I really enjoy my quiet time. I find that when I use that alone time, I am able to think and create. Now that the snow has started to fly in Minnesota, I find fewer and fewer errands that I wish to do. So as you will see, I have decided to just spend my home days crafting.
No, I did not get a free genie who does all the housecleaning, laundry, animal care, meal planning, . . . I think you get the idea. What I did get was a change of attitude. I am giving myself reason (excuse, permission, etc) to slow down. There are days that I feel like I do nothing but run from one activity to another. Making this commitment to completing UFO’s is becoming two-fold. It is a reason to save money (by not buying entertainment – craft supplis) and to force me to slow down.
I must come by it naturally, because my Mama Cloie always says, she “needs something to keep her hands busy to keep her mind energized.” But instead of keeping my mind busy, I am able to slow my racing thoughts. Instead of always trying to keep up, I am just present – in that moment.
It seems to me there is too much noise and distraction in our world. If I am right in that assumption, then how will I ever “hear” God. As a gardener, it is easy to hear God in the spring and summer. He is in the cricket’s chirp and the whisper in the wind as well as in the plink of the raindrops. With all the technological gadgets that I have in my household combined with my self-confined “hermit tendencies”, it is easy to forget God’s command to “Be still and KNOW.”
These last few days, I have been able to use my hands to keep my mind “still”. If someone pops into my mind, I pause and pray for them. God seems to pop a lot of “someones” pop into my mind. I find that I spend less time worrying, and it is so much easier to hand those worries over. I truly am at a peace. I also think that God knows my strong desire to not be running all the time, and so, He has used this resurgence of crafting to quiet me.
Even though to the human eye it might appear that it is just me (and Huck) quietly crafting, I know that there is He is there. And just like any proud papa, He is proud that I am choosing to spend time with Him.
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
UFO #3 is once again made with scraps from Erin’s quilt. I am almost completely out of those. It is a rag quilt (sewn with seams exposed). It becomes more ragged with each washing. While it wasn’t exactly 64 like squares in the quilt, there were a whole lot of “someone’s” prayed over during the making of this quilt.