40Acts: 10: Talent Show + Pause for Lent

From the daily prompt (this was yesterday’s):

Look at that list you made for act #3. Your toolbox will probably include a few skills that you’ve had up your sleeve for a while and never really had the chance to use. Your challenge for today is to TELL SOMEONE about your secret talents. Post your list online as a Facebook status or share it in your 40acts Together group, and then offer to teach someone how to do what you can do. Teaching and mentoring is generosity multiplied, because you give them something they too can give away. What skill will you share today?

This is really hard – my “toolbox” doesn’t really have much in it that I can teach people – I can give to others: I can bake cakes, I can draw some mean ZIA, I can preach, I can make cards, but I can’t imagine teaching anyone how to do these things, really.

Here is my latest Zentangle Inspired Art – a dragon for Eléanore.

But, even if I can’t really teach those things I can give an online tutorial on how to make one of my little bookmarks that I send to people as a gift – if the recipient is a Kindle reader I suppose the bookmark can be hooked over a doorknob, or even worn as a necklace! I made 6 of these yesterday for my dear friends from the “Opening Doors” weekend that I went on in September.

I chose the “charm” on the end specially for each person.

So, this is how you make them.

You need about 60 cm of ribbon, two little eyelets, a charm of some sort – this one is an earring who has lost its partner – small beads, (I use a cheap necklace that I bought for 50 cents, plus some tiny perles), needle, thread and superglue

First, sew the end of the ribbon together, and “whip” the thread around several times to get a tight end.

Slip the eyelets over the ribbon, so that the flat ends are together. These will hide the end of the ribbon when you have finished.

Next, thread your beads onto the thread, in a manner that is pleasing to you, finishing with the charm

Then thread the needle back through the beads to the top, to make sure that the thread is reasonably strong. Take the needle through the centre of the eyelets, so it is sticking out at the end.

Then you want to superglue the top bead to the bottom of the eyelet. Be careful not to also glue your fingers to it!

Finally, superglue the two eyelets together, and when the glue is dry, you can snip the thread and tidy up any stray ends.

And there you have a bookmark! I have shown off my talent!

If you would like to win the “demonstration model” just leave me a comment, and I will draw the winner next Sunday & let you know.

These 40 Acts have been interesting, as they have made me step outside my comfort zone to show generosity and thought for others. I’ve not really spoken much about why I’m doing these things to people, but I have seen pleasure, a sense of worth, a tear of happiness in people’s eyes as I have gone out of my way to make them feel valued. I will admit that I’ve not taken many steps outside my “safe zone”, but even the little that I have done has made a difference.

Interestingly, the sermon at church today was about how God is a God of movement; how he does not want us to stagnate, to stay “safe”, but rather, as Jesus did to Nicodemus,God wants to challenge our preconceptions and our “toeing the party line” and lead us on into more freedom.

The prayer that Ange posted on her blog a few days ago seems wholly appropriate here, and I hope she won’t mind me reposting it:

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

This is what 40 Acts has been doing for me: disturbing me, daring me, pushing me to just a little more than what I feel I can do…Step by step, God is leading me to the stars.