thing one and thing two

Thing One
I've done it. I've reached the point where I can comfortably say, "Come on over any time! Our house is always open!" It took a lot of work, a lot of cleaning, a little bit of stressing and yelling, some hired help, and a party deadline, but I made it. We had people over last weekend for Pampered Chef party, and people came over all week. I'm loving it. Now to maintain.

Thing Two
I hate it when I hear people say "I'm not creative." This bothers me to no end, I find it extremely frustrating.

Have you ever seen a child turn away a crayon, saying "I can't draw, I'm not very creative." Of course not! We're born with the urge to create, to explore our world visually. From a Christian perspective, it's only natural that a being made in the image of a Creator God would be creative. From a secular perspective, it's an innate need within us to create order and beauty out of the chaos around us. It's not something we have to learn, in fact it's something we have to UN-learn. We are told we're not good at it, or it's not worth our time, and it falls away.

Granted, some people are born with more inherent skill than others. Some are given more of an urge to be creative. But we ALL have the capacity.

It takes practice to remember our creativity. I try to be creative every day, from creating a new pattern to sew, to designing a new scrapbook layout or website, to sometimes just coming up with a silly song and dance for my baby boy. We get better at things the more we do them, and creativity is no different.

If you don't feel like you're a creative person, but would like to be, just try it out. Practice doing something creative every day. Draw a picture, write a poem, do a little dance. Take up a new creative hobby and start off by following directions and patterns, and before you know it you'll soon be coloring outside the lines and doing your own thing. And having people look at you and say, "You're so creative! I wish I was creative like that." Then you can share you secret with them!