Snowflakes

As St. Paul says, there are a variety of gifts, some are called to be preachers or teachers, others are gifted in healing or speaking in tongues.  My gift?  Cutting paper.

I discovered my gift back in third grade when my teacher noticed I had a slight lisp and sent me to speech therapy.  For some reason, speech therapy included a craft element.  I remember making thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas ornaments, and, most importantly, snowflakes.  Perhaps crafts were really my therapist’s strong suit, because, as you may well have noticed, I still have my lisp.  But boy can I cut snowflakes. 

I cut snowflakes every Christmas for the windows of our house and for the windows of the farm.  I cut snowflakes and used them as templates for spray painted Christmas cards.  (Note – while red is a perfectly appropriate Christmas color, on a spray-painted Christmas card it tends to look a little Fargo-esk.)  A couple of years ago I cut over 100 snowflakes (and laminated them all on fishing line) to decorate the church.  But I have never made snowflakes for any of the homes Jay and I have lived in.  Pastoring is busy work.

So this year I am making snowflakes for our windows.  It’s a good project that forces me to sit down and take a break from unpacking.

And look – this morning, there was snow!  John says, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” which actually may well be true.  We’re really in Chicago now!