8. we don't have to be craft thieves because He gave us each our own

When I was planning my wedding, I became obsessed with etsy.com. I mean literally, I checked like how I envision people checking the stock markets, or some people check their Facebook accounts. If you aren't well versed on all things etsy, let me give you the quick version: IT'S AMAZING! All kinds of handmade, and not handmade crafts. You can type in "hand made pallet shelf with mason jar" and you get this picture, with a link of someone who is willing to make this for you and ship it right to your doorstep:

Created and owned by Etsy shop: Rufcreate

Back in August, my obsession was at 100% and my dream was to be a featured seller on etsy, with some craft EVERYONE would want! But, the problem was... I didn't have a craft. I thought about making frames, stamps, invitations, you name it. I got SUPER into flower arranging. I'd go down to the farmers market, pick out bunches of flowers and make my own arrangements. My house was filled with them, and I started daydreaming about being some flower arranging professionals intern. I had a plan: I could study with them in my spare time, gain experience and then eventually open up my own shop. Sadly, this dream came to a screeching halt when I realized I'd have to some day be a business owner. Economics almost killed me in my undergraduate studies, and there was no way I was going back to that.. EVER (sorry econ lovers). I still arrange flowers for around my house, but because I like it, not because I feel the need to be America's (or the worlds) next best flower arranging extraordinaire in order to gain acceptance while I am shunning my actual talents and goals. 

My kitchen a few weeks back.  Arranging for fun!
R.I.P. to my precious peony that NEVER bloomed :(

Just to clarify, I think developing new talents can be great, beneficial. But what I am referring here is when we suffocate our real talents, dreams, goals in order to chase after some other "craft" that isn't really our passion at all. Maybe it's someone else's, and you've seen them have so much success, you covet it, and decide to get really good at it. I've done that before. "They had so much success, and so many people like it--that's what I should be doing, why am I not good at that?" All the while, my poor little passions are weeping in some dark room somewhere getting crushed by the invasion of some new impostor dream.

Even more so than my crushed dream of flower arranging, I realized that I was trying so hard to run away from the things I am already good at, my God given talents. I was trying to replace them; create something new. I was trying to give away something tangible, that someone could hang on their wall or put on a shelf somewhere. But I figured out that the things I'm best at, I may never be able to sell on etsy. It reminds me of a quote by Bob Goff that I heard at the NYWC. He said, "Stop doing stuff you're able to do and do the stuff you were made to do." 

I am able to wrap lace around a mason jar and sell it for $10. 
I am also able to hot glue buttons on frames and maybe those will sell for a little bit more. 
I learned that I am able to arrange flowers, even without being a professional.
But I was made to spend my life investing in people with love, leadership, encouragement and compassion. 

I still love crafting, don't get me wrong. But it's an "able to do" thing for me. Now, you might find a way to make that something you were made to do, and that is fine. Plenty of people are made to create beautiful crafts and touch the lives of others by sending their precious pieces of art around the world (I'm just not that good). The point is: stop stealing other peoples crafts. Develop your own. Find what you were made to do. Find your passion. Find what will change this world one person at a time. If you just spend your life getting good stuff that you don't think matters... you will have wasted your life. 

Finally, one of my favorite Bob Goff quotes from his book, Love Does,"I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter."

Just do stuff that matters.