It’s beginning to look a lot like….nope, can’t finish that sentence because it will speak it into existence and that’s a reality I have to live as it is.
I
have a stocking cap on the needles. I have already finished three of them and I want to have a nice supply before the busy season hits. Part of me thinks I am cursing my sales by preparing for them but I’ve had that thought every year and I’ve made the same hat over and over and never seem to make enough. So now I am getting the mundane part over with to hopefully be replaced with, the happier I can just ship this out vibe. Pray for me.
There are times when knitting something familiar can be comforting and easy because you know what to expect. It’s autopilot and dependable. It’s a different comfort level when someone has paid money for and needs it in a certain amount of time and you already made it over and over and the comfort has been replaced by pressure. Making the hats now brings comfort and now and maintains the blessing that knitting is for me. The business should never overtake the blessing and sometimes you have to work to make sure that priority stays straight.
I’ve also been working on a new mug design and this one really had me thinking and rethinking. Similar to a new knit or crochet design, you start and stop and start again.
Why I always think something will take a moment or two is a testimony to positivity. This took several days before I got to that moment every designer desires: this is it.
This year we have general elections in November and I signed up to be an election judge again. I’ve been an election judge since 2020 and now I am a Polling Place Technician as well. I also signed up for the early voting session, two weeks before election day. Haven’t been assigned yet but I am interested to see how that two weeks may effect my knitting gig. Another reason to get some of the hats out of the way.
And then there’s church. We have a new music director. We prayed for the right person to come, and somehow what arrived feels like more than what we knew to ask for. I’ve been thinking about that.
Sometimes we pray very specifically. We know exactly what we think we need, so we bring God our carefully prepared list.And sometimes the answer seems to say, You were thinking too small.
Music has always been part of our church, but lately I’ve been thinking more about what it could mean for us—not simply something that happens during worship, but something we have to give. Something that might reach beyond Sunday morning and beyond the people already sitting in the pews.
So there is a stocking cap on my needles. There are new designs on my computer. There are election days on my calendar. There is new music coming from the church. None of these things seemed connected when I started thinking about what I might write today. Maybe they aren’t.
But it’s beginning to look a lot like:
Making something instead of only thinking about making it. And making the future easier when it hits me in the face.
Showing up instead of only caring from a distance. Elections are important – especially when politicians have disappointed you and voting is the last bastion to change.
Using what is already in my hands and being willing to see what might happen next.
There are seasons when life gets very quiet. Sometimes that’s exactly what we need.
And then there are seasons when everything is upon you and you have to learn to deal with it and yourself. It’s beginning to look a lot like blessings.
I have a hat to finish and an ornament to design.