Reflection on the gifts He gave us


Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts
 to be used in the service of others.
Use your gift well.
1 peter.4:10 cev


I was reading my little book that my grandchildren gave me sometime ago "His Princess..Love letters from your king" by Sheri  Rose Shepherd, in it is the verse above and I was thinking about the gifts that God has bestowed upon us. I am not actually talking of the  Gifts of the Spirit,(by the way have you been blessed enough to find yours)? I am talking about the little arty things we can do. It made me realise that we do many things in life and move on never realising that we weren't so bad at it.At the age of 47 I decided I would like to learn a new craft each year and I began with Folk Art.

 One of my first attempts at folk art( well good enough to hang lol).There were many things that were very bad and they are still around,in the garden,door stops etc lol where people will not notice them ,but to remind me that things do not have to be perfect to bring joy,because even those items gave great joy at the time of painting.

This was a fine brush type of work that was a joy to do, it ended up looking like tiles but it is actually timber squares with layers of gesso sanded over and over to a lovely smooth surface.

This is mt first cottage I ever did, it is not perfect but I loved doing it.

This was a really challenging work,the faces needed to be realistic and it had many textures and I still look at it and cannot believe I did it!

This is my first lamp and lace work with roses it sits in our loungeroom on a little table that belonged to a friend that has passed over,the cherrubs we call the twins,Mum is a twin and her sister has passed and this is in memory of Aunty Thelma,it is our little memory table.

This is our spice cupboard ,Bob made it from the back of an old wardrobe that we had,and this is my favourite rooster,he is my first one, I have painted dozens of them, on clocks on books,tables you name it! His tail alone always took a couple of days as it is layers and layers if hair fine brush work,he is a lovely fellow.

I rarely paint anymore,I moved on to bear making,quilting,embroidery,crochet,knitting so many wonderful crafts too many to mention,I have stayed with my idea of learning something new each year, sometimes it has had to do with outside the home in the garden but it has always been a great journey, I am perfect at none of them but it does not matter.As I moved around our home to decide which work I would take a photo of I did not pick the best or worst I just picked the ones with the vivid memory of being painted.I have asked myself today why did I stop?There is no real answer to that as we all change from time to time what we eat, wear,methods of doing things we change habits etc so therefore we change to another craft.

I have to say though that looking around me my family will be able to say one day,"gee Mum had a go at anything didn't she".All of them have a special something painted for them male and female alike,so a little bit of me will live on.

I am feeling a little sad though as I realise that God gave me the gift to do these things no matter what they turned out like and I am so grateful for the gifts he has bestowed upon me in everyday life,I wonder did I take them for granted then I realise that he opened another door for me and gave me the oportunity to learn much more,I have taken his blessings with open arms.Thank you Lord.

PS. A little post script for those who understand the gifts of the spirit,when I was baptised,born again,made my promise to our Heavenly Father and gave my life to him,I was told that my gift of the spirit was the gift of giving,I make sure that I make full that blessing I have been given and each day I give of myself,quietly,gently,I pass through each day ending it knowing I did something no matter how small for someone else.How wonderful to get some much joy from something that costs me nothing.Praise God.

Have a lovely sweet blessed day.