November Challenge: Day 14

The last few days I feel as if I have been running nonstop. Between surgery, home projects, and running errands today I feel like I am running on empty. My full steam ahead mentality crashed today  after retuning from the grocery store to a series of questions and an ever lengthening to-do list, a to-do list made by everyone other than me. The result is exhaustion and an overall lack of motivation. That said, today I am thankful for knitting. After these past few days, to just sit and knit while sipping on hot chocolate is a blessing. I am grateful that I was taught how to knit, that I have retained that ability, and that I have the materials necessary to participate in this hobby.

Since I was a little girl I have always been fascinated with knitting and even tried to teach myself how to knit a few times, but was largely unsuccessful. Then in my junior year of high school my English teacher started a knitting club, which a group of my friends and I gladly joined. Both my English and biology teachers taught me how to knit and I have been knitting ever since. The very first project I ever made was a scarf, which I made for my sister-in-law to welcome her into the family. My next project was a beanie and I quickly became the source of handmade beanies for all of my friends.

The aspect of knitting that I enjoy the most is the way it forces me to relax when I am working on a project. I can sit down in front of a movie or tv show and just let the stress of the day work its way out as I alternate between knit and purl stitches. I almost always end up processing thoughts I had been trying to avoid and usually draw some sort of conclusion when I have finished knitting, plus I also have an awesome project completed too. The benefits of knitting are so wonderful that a San Francisco Children's Hospital even has volunteers teach parents how to knit in order for them to release and channel their stress during their child's hospital stay.

I am very thankful for the ability to knit and to release my stress as I work on a project. I am grateful for the completion of my knit infinity scarf, which I can proudly start wearing in the upcoming days. I am thankful for the teachers I have had in my life that have blessed me with so much more than knowledge in a subject. It is 9 years later and I am still being blessed by their act of kindness in teaching me how to knit and because of them I am able to bless others with the items I have knit. What are you thankful for today?

Strength In Weakness

Today I had my own thoughts, worries, and concerns. There were issues weighing on my heart and I needed time to process them, but time alluded me. Today, it seemed, my day was about other people: their worries and their concerns. With each new issue, I could feel life energy being drained from me and I wanted to scream out, "Leave me alone!" I wanted to emphatically state they should solve their own problems and stop putting me in the middle. Of course, I didn't and people seek me out because they know I will be there to listen. I don't want to indicate being supportive is a bad thing, but it takes an effect on you. Tonight, I feel myself drained and with more than my own problems to deal with, to think about. I am reminded to lay it all at Jesus' feet and to just find rest, "Come to me all who are weary." We have permission to release our burdens and be weak for a moment. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. Yet even as I rest, I am thinking and boundaries continue to resonate. I might be hurting those I love by not letting them suffer their consequences, something to think about as I rest.