Have you ever read Proverbs 31 and realized that this talented woman has her hands in a lot of different things? Buying and selling. Clothing her household. Land ownership and management. Gathering and distributing supplies to her household, the poor, the needy, and others. She is using her mind, her soul, her hands and body to bless her household and those around her.
Ladies, we can do the same.
We are called to use our talents and gifts and make our household, our town, our world a better place. So, what are you good at? What talents are you developing? What makes your soul sing?
Don’t be afraid to start small. To change direction. To start anew.
I was in my mid-twenties when I began to discover that I like to be creative. I would eventually learn that this desire to create was as necessary as breathing. If I didn’t have an outlet for my creativity, if I had no way to be creative, or if I was not creative for a while, I got crabby and irritated. Now I didn’t learn this fact about myself all at once, but slowly over the years, because life is like that and has a sense of humor.
Growing up I took piano lessons. I found that I enjoyed the lessons, but even more I enjoyed just sitting and playing the piano. Especially as a teen when I was full of emotions and angst. I would go play a loud, angry and melodramatic song in a minor key. Pound. Pound. Pound. After half an hour or so, I felt much better and was now playing happy and flowing songs.
Half way through my teens I told my first funny story to a group of girl friends at cheer camp. Hearing them laugh exhilarated me. It would take years, though, before I was good at telling funny stories. And years before I realized I enjoyed telling funny stories.
I married and suddenly had no piano. I felt lost, like a part of me was missing. Then my creativity took another turn. I started writing. Cooking and drawing were also turned into creative projects.
Now if someone had asked if I was creative way back then, I probably would have said no. But now I look back and see a pattern. So many things I enjoy, that I do as a hobby or when I have free time, are all creative endeavors.
Designing and sewing curtains for the house. Writing. Reading. Planning trips. Cooking. Painting the house or furniture. Cross stitch. Making jewelry. Taking pictures. Telling funny stories, which I turned into a podcast, Life as it Comes. The list goes on and on.
I have this desire to be creative, to use my God given traits and abilities to create and change things, to make the world a better place. Being creative feeds my soul. Nourishes me and others. Brings joy.
What feeds your soul? Nourishes you? Makes your heart beat a little faster? What trait do you have that blesses others and the world?
Look at what you like to do, your hobbies, your gifts. Do you like to sky dive, paint china, teach, decorate, cook, design, travel, write, color, make maps, or sing. Make a list.
Now write down things you would like to do if you had the time, money, or had lessons.
Do you see a pattern? Do you like to invent things? Make things pretty? Organize things? Discover things? Create things? Discover the why behind something? Learn and grow in knowledge? Do you like to do these things alone, with another, or in groups?
Discover what makes your soul sing.
Use it. Nurture it. Share it with others. Bless and inspire others. Multiply your talents.
So where does my desire to create, and your desire to bring forth order come from? God is creative. He designs things. He manages and organizes things. He brings forth beauty. He invents and places laws in effect. We are just imitating God when we do these things. He placed these desires in our heart to better serve and love those around us.
Life is about attitude, so use it to your advantage. Use it for big things and small things. Use it to make boring and not so fun tasks more enjoyable.
I dislike cleaning bathrooms, but love the end result. One day I decided to think of ways I could make cleaning the bathrooms more creative. I can listen to a podcast or music. This brings out my creative side and stimulates future creative ideas while I am swirling a brush in the porcelain bowl. Sometimes I talk aloud and pretend I am giving a speech or telling a funny story to people.
There are all sorts of ideas and ways to do things. Harness what excites you and see if you can use it in other areas of your life. Come on. I know you can do it.
I unwrap life with words to encourage, entertain, and bring forth laughter. A positive and enthusiastic lover of life and its graces, I help the weary regain hope, laugh, and not feel alone. Visit my blog, Things to Remember, to be encouraged and remember what’s important. Listen to my podcast, Life as it Comes, to hear funny stories and observations about life. Visit my blog!
Thanks for sharing this very encouraging post. You have spurred me on to discover what makes my soul sing. 🙂
Glad for the encouragement. How exciting to discover what you enjoy doing. Have fun! 🙂
So true. The uniqueness of our souls can get snuffed out in all of life’s duties, but I believe God smiles at us when we take time to sing (or do whatever gives us joy!) Thanks for sharing!
I think God smiles at us too. He takes great delight in us using our talents.
I recognize many of thees in my life. Sewing curtains for my first apartment, then on to wall hangings for our daughters room, stenciling the wall border, making clothes for her….back to drawing that started when I was a child and fast forward to today and my getting deeper in photographing still life. Yes, to discover this is what soothes my soul is life-giving. Stopping by from Holley’s and how good it is to meet a fellow creative.
You sound like me. Sewing curtains, stenciling wall borders, and now photography. Even the same order as me. Hello and blessings sister creative.
I loved this encouragement to find our passion. The idea about changing your mindset about cleaning the bathrooms is a great idea!
#Raralinkup
To bad it took me so many years to discover! LOL
Love, love, love this post! I am very similar to you 🙂 I love flexing the creative muscles that God gave me. I also thought that for a long time I was not creative. I couldn’t play an instrument like all my siblings or paint incredible portraits like my sister or figure out how to make things fit together and work like my brother. But slowly I’ve realized how much I like being hands on and creating, even if it’s not a masterpiece. It fills my soul because I’m doing something God gifted me to do.
Katie, So glad you have learned the special ways you are creative, and that your ways can be different and unique from others. God gifted us with so many gifts, and it’s fun that we are not all alike.
This is great, Theresa! I never stopped to think about what makes my “soul sing” … but there definitely are things that flip this switch … I’m going to take some time to make a list … and nurture these things!
Great! The more we know about our self the better we can nurture our self and others.
You’re right. Except we engage in what we really love to do, life becomes a drudgery but we get passionate and invest our best in what we love to do. I guess that’s why I am a teacher and I channeled my love for reading and writing into blogging. Thanks for sharing and abundant grace with your creative endeavours in Jesus’ name.
So right Edith, life can become drudgery when we are not passionate about anything we are doing. Combining our jobs and passions is the best of both worlds. Good for you. And blessings on your blog and teaching.
I love this encouragement to find our own path to what makes our souls sing. And you’re right, life has a way of slowly revealing these things to us. But it’s like a slow awakening and then aha…everything makes sense! Thanks for this inspiration, Theresa!
Marva you are so right. I like that; a slow revealing. Because it takes time to find out what makes our soul sing, and our path often is not straight, but full of some wondrous turns. And over time a pattern keeps emerging.
This is such an encouraging post. Lots of great practical ideas. I intend to print this and put it in my journal for continual future reference for when my soul needs a song. Thanks so much.
Great idea. A singing soul is a content and happy soul; and that joy is passed to those around her.