“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder, Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Wisdom and Virtues
By now most of us have seen at least photos of the various versions of the welcome sign made from flip flops, right? The first time I saw one was when our local library announced it would be the craft for the monthly Pinterest group. I immediately thought that is so cool, it would be perfect for our house since we live at the lake. There is no charge for library programs and all materials are provided, so I decided to go. And I came home with an adorable and perfect welcome sign — not exactly. In fact it fell apart the minute I walked in my front door. Then it sat on my studio floor in pieces while I tried to figure out a better way to hold it together than the original hot glue. And it sat, and it sat and it sat.
Then finally on a wild and crazy busy cleaning day of all days I decided to get out Bob’s spray glue and give it a try. Well it got the flip flops glued together. It got the shells and the sunglasses from my last eye doctor visit glued on. What it would not do was attach the flip flops to the wooden paint stirrer the library had used to act as a backing and to hang the sign. Bob finally ended up using small nails to tack it together.
It is all together. It is still hanging and still has all the embellishments after a night outside hanging from our deck. One of my flip flops is a little wonky, but that just gives it character.
Copyright 2017 by R.A. Robbins
So what’s the point in all this? The point is that when you see all those beautiful and perfect craft projects online you don’t know the back story. You don’t know how many times it took to get what you see in the picture. You often don’t hear about the little slip ups and mishaps along the way. Don’t try to hide your back story. The stories of the trials and errors, hits and misses and even total disasters along the way are what make us real. And if you’re no good with a glue gun, like me, don’t give up. There’s always another way.
“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thought.” –A.W. Tozer, pastor and author
“I’m not living the life I thought I would lead, but it does have meaning, purpose. There is love… there is joy… there is laughter.” ― Christopher Reeve
Purple and White Iris Copyright 2015 by R.A. Robbins
“Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can’t always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith.” ― Lauren Kate, Torment
We live in a world of great turmoil and crisis. Everyone is scurrying around trying to “do something.” Are we missing something? Are we perhaps even unknowingly contributing to the madness? Is there a better way? Watch this brief TED talk and let’s discuss it in the comments section below.
espirational.com 