Friday, November 30, 2012

At the Craft Shows...


An open house Christmas craft sale:

my friend does this every year.



She empties her house of her furniture
and sets up shelving and displays.
She creates things to sell and lets her friends sell from her home
(The above picture was of her friend's things to sell.  My friend paints a lot of the rustic furniture
and signs and things you see in the following pictures or at her BLOG.)
 




We've been friends since we were teenagers;
she is one of the few friends I have had through most of my life that I've stayed in touch with
since the day we met who has also kept the faith.
But it seems we've been crafting and painting for about as long as we've been friends.

She started a blog around when I did,
so we enjoy sharing in that experience,
emailng helpful ideas and encouragement.

It is a grand thing to have such a friend!




However, as I've worked on things to sell this fall,
I have questioned whether this is something I should let go of.

I am almost 40, and something about this birthday has made me look at myself...
what it is I want to accomplish in life,
what are my real goals,
praying for God to show me what He wants me to pursue and do with the next phase of my life.

Introspection seemed necessary;
life has varying stages, and I found this stage very hard for some reason.

Home-schooling has been much more demanding this year
and I don't want to feel so stressed with trying to be with me kids,
enjoy them,
and then work so hard on things to sell.
 



I enjoy making things to sell and feel good about contributing to the family purse.

But there comes a time when you have kids that are so needy of your attention and time
that the financial contributions seem to be teetering on the scale of what is most important.
I find that my kids need me more now at this school age,
much more so than they did when they were babies
because they need me as a person, somebody to talk to and interact with them;
they need to know I am really here for them with my heart,
and I don't want to miss that buried under a pile of pots of paint.




It is hard to let something you love go,
especially when you've put years into it.




The first week my friend was open,
things didn't go well this year.

Items weren't selling.
People weren't coming quite as much as usual.


I have to admit,
as much as I know I need to let this go,
it is hard when you've invested so many hours into something
and you wonder if you're going to make anything for the sacrifice you have made,
especially when the sacrifice has seemed so high this time around.




I had a goal this year,
as I do every year.

My husband gave me money for a new camera for my anniversary gift
because he knew how much I really wanted one.



It is a nice camera, one I never dreamed I'd ever own.

I hope to use it for a lot of things in the future.

But my goal for the craft sales this Christmas
was to make the money we had used to buy the camera.



With home-schooling taking up so much of my time, this seemed like a pretty large goal;
but I wanted to use up a lot of the supplies I had waiting in the attic
since I knew that this might be the last year I would put this much into the craft sales,
at least for the years to come that I need to have my attention here, in my home.




I tried to not let it bother me.

"It's Yours, God," I prayed.
"I'm willing to let this go and do whatever it is You show me I need to do.
Just show me what that is.
If this is your way of showing me it more directly,
I admit it will be hard, but I'll deal with it."




On the last day of her open house,
my friend sent me an email in the evening.

"This was one amazing Day! We had over 100 people come through today--which is a high for us.We had a record high of sales for one day today. We made more today than we did the last 7 days!"

She told me my total earnings.

It was 4 times what she had told me 2 days before.
My sales at both her sale and the other open house I had crafts in
would make the goal of the money for the camera.





 I have heard people question the reality of God.

Certainly creation shouts his praise
and the Bible spells out His story.

But sometimes, in the little details of our lives,
the small trials we face, the questions that invade the little spaces of our moments
and pursuits,
when the face of God appears through the fog and you hear His whisper in
to the quiet recesses of the soul,
to those places that weigh heavy but very few people even know they are there,


it is these peculiar treasures that invite the realization of His intimate care.

The Grandest of fine artists feels the joy of creation, the mixture of the hues,
the satisfaction of feeling that the work done is a worthy effort,

and He cares.


Linking Up to:
Missmustardseed.com
Tatertotsandjello
FunkyjunkinteriorsHomespunhappenings
alittleknickknack.com
Gnowfglins

8 comments:

  1. He does care-- His blessings are real. One thing I learned though, that is we have to be willing to lay that 'thing' at His feet, as it belongs to Him; and not pick it up.
    I hope the blessing of the goal being met--will always stick with you.
    I hope the blessing of the goal of homeschooling being met will always stick with you too. It is a hard thing when we pick these things up; and try to juggle them in our own power.
    The Grace of the LORD Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Phil. 4:23
    Pat

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  2. Yippee! So glad you met your goal! God is so good! I miss doing craft sales as well, but know I'm NEVER going to regret spending the needed time with my family! You'll never regret the time and memories made with your sweet kids. Believe me, the time goes MUCH to quickly to miss one second :) Love you!!!

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  3. The pictures are great! I am so glad you met your goal! I agree that the time with your children is way more important than money. You do so much. You go from craft sale to plant sale. I would think that with the plant sale you feel more like you are making memories and spending time with your children. That is what my sale is like for me and the family :) Thank you so much for all the years we shared doing this!!! It goes all the way back to those Fire Hall craft sales. You have been such a great friend to me. Praying for God's will in our family too :) Thank you for sharing this at Rustic Restorations Weekend too :)

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  4. A most lovely post from the heart. How sweet everything turned out and how assuring to once again be reminded of God's love and faithfulness :)

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  5. Gave me goose bumps.

    =)

    PS. And I'm glad you were able to make that camera money back!

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  6. Yes, God is in the details. I'm glad things worked out for you.

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  7. I am so glad that you were able to let go and let God work this through. Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is the letting go and trusting God. So happy for you.

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  8. Beautiful pictures, beautiful words to read on your praises to God for answered prayer. :)

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