Your Gifts

“You have a great gift,” said the angel Clarence in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Yes, you have. If you are a person of faith, you believe your talents come from God and you should not squander them.

In the picture below, you can see what I recently created for a romance group’s Christmas party where organizers challenged each member to bring something they made.

Eye glass case, center; small notebook with felt heart, cross, and rickrack, left, and large notebook decorated with my Courtships and Carriages bookmark and rickrack, right.

I am proud of what I made and how I created the items. I made the eyeglass case from my deceased mother’s felt. It was her felt flower I sewed on the case. I decorated the notebooks with her felt and rickrack and adorned the small notebook with a cross I had on hand and the large notebook with my Courtships and Carriages bookmark. I never have been much of a “crafty” person, but I have to admit I smiled at my achievement.

You need to smile at your achievements, too, even though it is difficult at times. Readers do not know how much work a piece of writing takes, that is, if we want it to be our best.

Recently, I wrote a nonfiction account about my husband’s mother – a mother he never knew – since she was committed to a mental institution when he was a toddler. I had developed this article after attending a conference this fall. However, when I submitted it, officials said it was not quite right for their publication. It sits in my computer awaiting a “right” avenue. So not all we create is something valued by another.

This gets me thinking about my craft items. Was this gift something the receiver could use? I hope so but in reality it does not matter. The results are what mattered and if you were pleased with your efforts. If so, wear that smile broadly.

We often receive rejections and it is difficult to accept these sometimes. However, what we need to do is to persevere. Remember our work is in the eye of the beholder.

I market my book at a lot of craft fairs, and I can tell your responses vary from “I liked that book” to “I liked your other book better” to no comment at all. When they do not comment, you know you are in real trouble. However, maybe not since there are people who buy your books but never read them. I can testify to that since my bookcase still contains Bill O’Reilly’s book, Killing Kennedy, and he has had two books released since then.

However, remember no matter how discouraged you get (and we all do) salvage the fun and satisfaction of a finished product you created and loved. God bless and it is good to again write a blog. Now, GO AND CREATE!