Time and Talents

 I found myself a bit let down this week.  I worked all week on a dress - This dress, and cloak/cape.  I had in mind what I wanted the end to look like, and as I kept sewing THIS is what I ended up with!

It's not exactly what I had planned on - kinda far from it.  The fabric ended up being much heavier than I had anticipated and as I tested a few beading patterns, I couldn't make it look beautiful and classy - it sortof just kept looking like indian beading....which is not at all what I was going for.
Anyway.  I can't say it turned out awful.  It just wasn't what I set out to make, and considering I didn't have a pattern, I think for what it's worth it's fine.

I get frustrated.  I see these beautiful creations that people make on their sewing machine and am amazed.  I sit down to sew certain fabrics and they just twist, bunch, stretch, fray, what ever, and I seem to not be able to create what I see.






I did have an eye opening experience today though.

I have a friend Jamie, that lives up the street, near our church.  She is the younger sister of a high school friend.  She is a bit mentally slow, and lives at home still.  I see her at church, she's in the other ward, and I'm friends with her on Facebook.

Last month I made myself a new purse and posted pics of it on my profile.  Jamie commented, "Can you make me one for my birthday?"

I told her I would.

Today, We passed in the hall and she stopped me.
"Melissa, I made you a book mark!"

I praised her and was delighted that she thought of me!

So I sat down today and busted out her new purse, for her birthday!


 
 

I hope she likes it!  I think she will.

So, here's my point.
Sometimes you ask someone to do something and they expect you to pay for it.  I would love to make money off of all of the things I do, but what a jerk I would be if I expected that....or even let it cross my mind!

Can you imagine being so bogged down that all you could do to do something nice for someone was based on whether or not they paid you for it?

I feel this is the case all too often.

One of my counselors once, couldn't even do sharing time without turning her receipt in for the paper and flowers she used for her object lesson. 
I realize some people are very tight financially and can't afford excess, I was there once, but where is the line drawn where you use your talents and everything the Lord has blessed you with for building up Zion?
Without Doug's job I could have the mentality of "who's paying for this?"

I am so grateful that he supports us financially so that I can find time to bless others with my and my families talents....at his expense!