Show me how

I have this tendency to want to be good at things that go completely against the grain of my nature. In some cases, I've actually managed to be marginally successful. Take piano, for example. I have often wondered why on earth God enabled me to play the piano and then gave me a personality type that finds the thought of sitting in a room by myself for more than 30 minutes practicing completely appalling.

A month ago I decided I was going to be the ultimate homemaker and begin making my own bread. I bought all of the necessary ingredients, pulled my Kitchen Aide out of the cupboard, and made bread. Once. I must say, though, that the apron I bought to complete the "Suzy Homemaker" facade has turned out to be a good motivational tool. . . just not for making bread.

This week I have decided that in order to save the world and teach my children not to be materialistic or 'brand-name' obsessed, I will learn how to knit. Seriously, this is very exciting. Forget the fact that I am not wired in any way to actually do it (I would much rather be socializing or watching a movie), I just have this deep longing to be the kind of person who knits. Oh, does that even make sense?

So, yesterday I purchased the necessary equipment for knitting and settled myself in front of the computer to watch YouTube videos on learning how to knit.

Unfortunately, it turns out that when you have no intrisic understanding or ability to knit, learning to do so by watching You Tube videos is not very productive or fruitful. I am no more capable of knitting today than I was yesterday, although I am excited to share that after 20 minutes of rewatching the same 2 minute video I did finally figure out how to make a slip knot.

So what do I do? Should I just give up on knitting and admit that my personality type is probably incapable of something so crafty and time-consuming?

No way!! There is a missing link in this escapade that is (I believe) almost 100% responsible for my failure: other people. There is a reason that I found some level of success in playing the piano. . . It is because I had amazingly gifted teachers pushing me forward and encouraging me. I had examples to look up to and emulate. I wasn't trying to teach myself how to become great at something; I was looking to the gifted people around me who were already great at it to show me how.

If I want to become the type of person who makes her own bread and knits my neighbors sweaters, I should probably try spending some time with people who already do. Their encouragement and instruction will probably be about 1,000 times more effective than the nice lady on You Tube.

And this isn't just for baking and knitting - I think it works for just about every area of life. Think about the kind of woman you want to become. . . The type of impact you want to have. . . Then find someone who is already doing it - someone who God has grown and who God is using - and watch them! Let their example motivate and inspire you as you seek to become the woman God wants to make you into.

There are a lot of things that I will never be intrinsically good at. . . And I might honestly never actually knit anything. But no matter what personality any one of us has, the Creator of the Universe has all the intrinsic power and understanding necessary to make us more fully His, and to use us to empower and encourage the lives of those around us.

Here's to living beyond the boundaries of what we're naturally capable of. . . remembering that nothing is impossible with God.