Yesterday I shared a quick and inexpensive way to add some fall color to your table.  Today I want to talk about the idea od finding shortcuts in your home decorating. Not everyone wants to find shortcuts.  I think it often depends on whether you are a Process Person or a Product Person in terms of your creativity.

A Process Person enjoys doing the crafts.  They sew for a hobby  like my mother.  They cook for fun  like my sister.  They write because they love putting together words like me!  I really enjoy writing.  But I like to have pretty things in my house and eat great tasting food too.

My mother always starts with a pattern.  She might alter it, but she does all the proper steps.  Mom has taken tailoring classes and made sport coats for my dad and formal dresses for me.  She also likes to measure and cut very precise shapes out of fabric and sew them together and make beautiful quilts.  My sister quilts too.  Big Sis makes detailed pencil drawings and she cooks professional quality gourmet meals and pastries (like those in Bon Appetite magazine).  My mom and my sister both have beautiful gardens.

I am a Product Person in many ways: We have established here that, up to this point in my life, I have been a brown thumb; no gardening for me. In my kitchen, I like to make delicious foods that take about 20 minutes to cook.  Too many ingredients or steps and I just move on to another recipe.  I take on sewing projects that I can complete in a day.  I despise following sewing patterns or sewing for people (that is really tricky).  I like to make items for my home decor like curtains, slipcovers, or tablescapes.  I enjoy seeing my vision come to life, but the crafting part is the necessary evil.

At some point, I felt bad for not having embraced the crafting gene from my mother, for not learning the art of cooking from my sister.  But here is #ASimpleJoy that we can all walk in: you are who God made you to be.  I am a writer, not a quilter, or a gardener, or a gourmet cook.  Being a writer doesn’t mean I can’t grow my appreciation for other hobbies.  And it doesn’t mean I can’t cook yummy food or make nice things.  But it does mean that I will likely spend more and more time developing this craft, which leaves less times for other crafts.

No one person can be the best at everything; that’s God’s job.  He is perfect in all ways.  His creativity displays His perfection: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).

We, on the other hand, display His diversity.  Each of us, developing the gifts that He has given us, shines His light differently. He is infinite; there is no end to His creativity and perfection.  He never runs out of new ways to be amazing!  And in His generosity, because He knows how rewarding it is to create, He allows us to experience the feeling of satisfaction that comes from creating.  I am thankful for that!

Tomorrow I will share some of the home decor shortcuts I have taken.  🙂

Are you a Product Person or a Process Person?  Do you have a gift that you feel God has generously given to you?  I would love to hear from you!!