God Given Talent...Literally

I don't know about you but I love being creative! It feels good to take supplies into my hands and to make something from them. It doesn't matter if I am using pencil and paper to sketch or material to sew, when I see an outcome that I like it makes me excited and proud. I am so thankful that God gave us to enjoy the abilities He has given us.


What I was thinking about today is this...How true is the saying "God given talent"?

Then I remembered the story of the building on the tent of meeting. If you check out Exodus 31, you will find a detailed description of the creation of the tent of meeting. It talks about the materials that should be used and the measurements and the decorations, but in the midst of all of this there are six verses that stood out to me...

"Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you..." Exodus 31:1-6

God LITERALLY (my husbands second favorite word) gave them the talent and artistic ability to serve Him. I believe that God still gives us the talents we need to serve Him. Sometimes it's music. Sometimes it's the ability to write great stories. Sometimes it's the ability to draw or create great craft items. Whatever it is that you are great at God has given you that talent. Don't forget to give it back to Him by doing His work with the abilities He has given you.

After all...It's God given talent!

Teachable Moments

Life has been hectic in the Mustion house lately. We are go, Go, GO! Our routine is out of whack between Strawberry Festival and Vacation Bible School. Since I had to work all day on Saturday at the Strawberry Festival, I wasn’t able to do my grocery shopping when I normally do – on Saturday. So while my friend Sondra and her oldest daughter, Shaina, worked on snacks for Vacation Bible School, Jadie (Sondra’s youngest) and I went grocery shopping. It made for a busy Sunday afternoon, especially since I had a meeting at church that night, but we had fun.
While Jadie and I were shopping we started talking about the wind and the sunshine. Jadie didn’t understand why we have wind. Of course, I could have bored her with all the scientific reasons for wind and rain and sunshine, but instead I chose to use this opportunity to have a “teachable moment.” Now you may ask, “What is a teachable moment?”
A teachable moment is an opportunity to share about God/Christ that arises from your day to day activities.

Jadie wanted to know why we had wind. I had two choices: tell her the science or tell her about God creating the wind. So many times I am ashamed to say that I choose the easy way out and just talk about the “facts”. I am happy to say that on Sunday God helped me to seize this teachable moment and I told her the Creation story instead.
That night Sondra and I were talking about my outing with Jadie and how she behaved and all those good details parents love to know and Sondra shared with me the questions that Jadie has been having about Jesus. I thank God for giving me those words to say in that teachable moment. I pray they will be a few of the seeds that will help Jadie find all her answers about Jesus and to come to know Him as her personal Lord and Savior.
I urge you to seize those teachable moments in your own life. They don’t have to be children. Maybe it’s your neighbor or co-worker. Whoever it is, you will not be sorry that you told them about the love of God!

It was Good

Today I finished a class project that I have been working on for approximately 12 hours. I purposely picked a hard object to re-create because I loved the challenge of it but as a result I probably spent three times as much time on this project than anyone else in my class. It was fun to watch the object take shape on the computer screen as I tweaked and re-tweaked and polished each effect. I meticulously worked over the finer points to make it as true to the original as possible. Finally, today I was finished. No. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't the same down to every detail, but it was Good. I was proud of my creation, and for once I understood something...

This is how God felt when He created ME!

He looked at me and said "She is good!" In Genesis 1, God says the words "it was good" SIX times. When He created humans He said we were VERY good. We aren't copies. We are His original creation and He is proud of us!

When God looks at us, He doesn't see the flaws or imperfections. He doesn't see the extra 20 or 30 pounds. He doesn't see that we don't keep our houses clean or our nail perfectly manicured. He sees his perfect creation and He still says that we are VERY good!

What will it take for you to see yourself the way that God sees you?

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day." Genesis 1:26, 27, & 31

 This is my project. I was to copy a manufactured object as closely to the original as possible.




This is the original image of the Shelby GT500 "Elanor" from Gone in 60 Seconds.