Create

Today I am busy creating blankets for my children for Christmas (and it might take until Christmas to finish them).  But I did want to stop and leave a quick message here about creating and its impact on our well-being.

I have done the dishes and washed the table.  The floor still needs to be swept from our gingerbread creations last night (read: candy all over the floor), and the blocks are still strewn about the family room.  However, I have stopped to make a blanket for each child.  President Uchtdorf said, “Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.”

I think I am feeling this quote keenly today.  As I patch together the constellations to the solar system for my seven year old who adores outer space, that inner peace swells as I see it come together.  It’s even amplified, and love magnified because it is a creation of love for someone that I love.

P.S. Don’t worry if sewing isn’t your thing… President Uchtdorf also said:

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.

If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.