"Make Something You Can Give Away"

"Make something you can give away."

SUSAN BRANCH

There is something delightsome about making something you can give away. Do you find it so? Whether it's baking muffins, writing a little note and decorating the envelope, crocheting a little ornament to hang on a door knob, designing handmade cards, sketching a quick scene, creating haiku poems, making tiny posies from spring flowers in the garden, we do whatever strikes our fancy, because the child inside still loves making things with her hands. 

I first saw that little quote of Susan Branch's early in the new year. It was included in a short hand-painted list which described little things a person could do to make life sweet. I don't recall what else was on the list, but I do remember the suggestion to make something you can give away. I liked the creative element of it. I wrote it down in my journal, underlining it several times. It was something I wanted to focus on in 2024. I used to do this a lot but kind of lost the habit... and here it's nearly June and I haven't done much to change it.

Before I go further, I must tell you that over the years, I have come to recognize little nudges—like taps on a shoulder—that come when something or Someone is trying to get my attention. For me, so often these nudges will come in threes. I think it takes me that long to realize something is up. Thankfully the One who is nudging extends much grace in giving me many hints. On the first go around, something catches my attention but it often flits by like a feather thought; it scarcely registers sometimes, it's like seeing it from the corner of your eye. Then the same thought or idea will show up elsewhere and I think, oh, I just saw that. When it crosses my path a third or fourth time, that's when the penny drops, as the saying goes, and I realize I should pay attention to this idea. Maybe I'm supposed to do something with it.

Often at the start of a new year, many of us look for something new for our lives. A new affirmation, a new project, a new word. So when I ran into Susan's quote in January, I wasn't surprised to see the same idea showing up in other places. I think this was going to be my new thing for the new year.

Let me share how it came to me:

 

1. Little Women was the first book I read in January. I found myself especially drawn to young Beth March. You will recall she got gravely ill, recovered somewhat, but languished until there was nothing more to be done to make her well. In the midst of this suffering time, Beth continued to be sweet as was her nature and, as much as she could, she continued to make little things for others. Instead of turning her eyes inward to her own suffering, she turned her eyes outward to others—I came to love and appreciate that gift in her: 

". . . even while preparing to leave life, she tried to make it happier for those who should remain behind. The feeble fingers were never idle, and one of her pleasures was to make little things for the school children daily passing to and fro. To drop a pair of mittens from her window for a pair of purple hands, a needle-book for some small mother of many dolls, pen-wipers for young penmen, toiling through forests of pot-hooks, scrap-books for picture-loving eyes, and all manner of pleasant devices, till the reluctant climbers up the ladder of learning found their way strewn with flowers, as it were, and came to regard the gentle giver as a sort of fairy god-mother, who set above there, and showered down gifts miraculously suited to their tastes and needs." Chapter 40, The Valley of the Shadow, p. 391

2. I found the second example in the Winter 2023 issue of Where Women Create. One article was by Carmen Daumer, an amazing creator from Colorado, who spends nearly every waking moment creating new things in her workshop. Her mind is always dreaming up new ideas, so much so that she began to feel she needed to share these 'overflow' ideas with others. I was fascinated by this and by this woman's generosity of spirit. She wrote, "Four years ago, I was praying, and I felt strongly that I wanted to give back for all the blessings, ideas, inspiration and energy to accomplish the projects I dream up. God has given me a mind that can look at something and see 20 things I could do with it. If I didn't share it with others, why would he give me more ideas?" (p. 92). As I see it, Carmen took to heart words that Jesus once spoke, as recorded in Matthew, "Freely you have received, freely give."

3. In March I wrote about Emily Dickinson, a literary hero (post link HERE). She was certainly someone who made something and gave it away. I thought of how Emily often baked cookies and sent down basketsful from the upper window to the neighbourhood children below. She also made little handmade books in which she wrote her poems out for her friends. 

I haven't done a lot of creating with my hands lately; other needful things pressed in. But I keep remembering how young Beth and these creative women have demonstrated such a generous way to live life more beautifully. I'm glad for their examples crossing my path at the start of the new year reminding me to 'make something to give away'. In writing this post, I intend to pick this up and bring it with me into the next half of the year.

 

 

❦

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Brenda

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