What Doesn't Come Naturally

I'm not naturally predisposed to crafting.  I did a little bit of cross stitch as a girl. People tried in vain to teach me to crochet and knit.   I have to stick to sewing straight lines and, then again, they can hardly be called straight when I'm done with them.  I have neither the fine motor skills nor the patience.

I thought the same about cooking.

And raising children.

These things just don't come naturally.

Thank God you can learn.

My continuing education, the place I left off when I ditched college, has been in the school of marriage, home, and mothering.  My biggest spiritual lessons have been learned in this institution called Family.  My maturity continues to develop here.  My everyday and even my creative skills improve here.

I'm not crafty, but I die to myself and help my daughter make a dollhouse out of a cardboard box.  Never mind that we have two real dollhouses upstairs.  This one must be recycled.  And it must have a second floor.  She insists a piece of cardboard glued to the sides will hold.  I resist the urge to throw up my hands in frustration and go in search of something that will hold.  In the basement I find an old piece of paneling that looks about as perfect as can be for the second floor of a cardboard dollhouse.  I cut slits in the side of the box and my daughter squeals in delight as she realizes what I am doing.  We slide the piece of paneling into the slits and, in her words, "wah-la!".  Arts and crafts are the way to her heart.  To me this stuff is junk, to her it is a place to let her imagination run wild.

My son has been making movies for the past six months.  Let me be honest, they are terrible.  But only because I am the camera-mom.  Up until yesterday, all his movies were of Super Mario Brothers characters.  He uses stuffed animals to stand in for Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and the bad guy (what's his name?).  Each movie has a plot. Generally the bad guy attacks Mario and Luigi and the two brothers overcome him.  They often rescue Princess Peach.  He designs the "set" which stretches from the family room all the way into the kid's bathroom down the hall.  He creates traps.  I'm only supposed to film his hands and the characters, but I'm awful at this, especially as I chase the scene down the hall.  Yesterday he set up a Lego movie on the deck.  It was very cold out.  The movie was seven minutes long.  I wondered if it would ever end.  But I died to myself and tried extra hard to use some cool camera zooming effects to make his movie even better.  He thinks it's his best movie yet.

This is not natural.  Curling up with a book and reading all day is natural.

But I'm learning.

I learned to cook and now I love to do it.  I get a lot of joy from creating wholesome, satisfying meals for my family and others.  I buy helpful tools or request them as gifts.  My rice cooker and bread machine make up for my deficit in creating both from "scratch".  My citrus and garlic press get me fresh flavors with minimal work.  I do my share of book learning in this area, with cookbooks, food blogs, and magazines too.  I do have the skills and patience to cook.

I do have the skills and patience to raise children. It's not natural ability, it's learning.  I want to get more and more passionate about these kids God has given me. Study them.  Learn what they love and feed that passion in them the way I feed my passion for cooking (and food!).  There are tools that make this easier.  Craft and art supplies for my daughter; building toys for my son. Books, videos, good things that build them up.  And lots of time from me.  That can be the tool that "presses" me the most.  Three children, a home to take care of, a husband to save some energy for.  I don't naturally balance these things, but I'm learning.

Crafts aren't my thing.  But cooking?

And kids?

Let them be my thing.

Natural or not.