The Importance of Making

I've always said I'm not a "crafty" person. It's basically true - especially when compared with marvels like my sister or mother-in-law who make the art of "making" so beautiful and effortless looking. I've never had their level of patience for learning by trial and error, for making mistakes and learning from them. I want things to turn out perfectly, now, and feel like a failure when they inevitably don't.

One of our pastors recently spoke in church about God being creative, and it really struck a chord. He said because we are made in His image, we are all in some way or another creative. It's one of those things that I've "known" but never gave much thought to. I easily wring my hands and say "I'm not creative, I'm not good at creating anything," and give up on trying, failing to realize that just the act of making anything really is such an integral part of making one feel happy and whole. 

In the last month I've been trying to spend more time making. I decided before I even started that what I actually made would probably not meet my expectations or ideals, but it would be good to just work on something. Anything.

This year I have been really inspired by weavers and weavings. Weaving is such a bloggy-fad right now, isn't it? And Lord knows how annoying these blogging fads are. (Trust me, I know.) This is one fad, though, that has really captured my imagination. It started with cutting up an old Amazon box and using yarn scraps I've had around for close to a decade and using this tutorial to make a very silly little weaving (that's nevertheless hanging proudly in my kitchen!) I think Matt was so impressed that I actually finished a project that I started for once, that he built me a cute little lap loom which has kept me very busy.

I still get frustrated when what I see in my head doesn't translate onto the loom, and I will finish a piece and feel embarrassed at its mediocrity and want to just throw it away, but you know what? - This has been really good for me. I am feeling happier and more grounded this last month than I have in almost a year, and I think this little bit of creative handiwork is a big player in that. It feels really, really good to be making.