A Crafter's Tools

By Arleen Kaptur

At birth, each of us is given a set of tools to enable us to begin our journey on earth. Some get paint brushes, and others needles and thread. There are those with knives to carve wood and still others melt wax and make candles.

No matter the craft, the tools are given freely. These tools may not resemble what the world knows or expects, but they are ideas and whispers in the mind and heart. The vision of beauty and colors beyond belief are woven into the fiber of each of us.

You may say that you never saw the brushes or the needles. My friend, they were there in your fingertips and in your soul. When a color struck your fancy or a twig inspired you to think about the perfect place to put it - there was your pallette of paint and the clay to make a vase. Inspiration takes many shapes and forms, but if we miss a tool or two, somewhere later in life they appear and we get a second chance.

Crafts and hobbies are made in heaven. They are disguised as such because the beauty is inside and we must find the right touch to open the doors of creativity and ingenuity. Once opened, the Magical Box will not close again. The visions come at the most inopportune times. Waiting for a bus, rocking a baby, and even washing a floor are not excluded. Each is a bead or button to be picked up and used.

When you give something that you made with your heart to a loved one, be assured that the quills used to sign your name on your project are made of gold. The ink is the flowing water of who you are and where you are headed. If wood is your special talent, then a tree feels privileged to lend you a bit of itself to make the heavens proud.

Yarn, sparkles, and even a feather all are happy to make your ideas come to light. So, create to your heart's content, give gifts as if they were one of a kind, for truly they are, and stand proud when you hand your tool box or sewing basket back to the Almighty. If they are well used, then your life will shine. If they haven't been touched, then the world is less of a place because of it.

Fulfill your dreams, and be the artist that you know is in your being. We all wait and hope that the beauty you create will help us envision the treasures of the world we will enter someday. Craft and know that you are doing the work of the universe - and as the saying goes "Live Well and Prosper" in ways you have just started to discover.

©Arleen M. Kaptur August, 2007
Arleen M. Kaptur has written many books and articles on everyday living and finding peace and joy in all we do.
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