Holiday Inspiration

Have you been on Pinterest yet?  Most people I know “love it”, or “don’t get it”.  I’m in the“love it” category.  Pinterest is an online public bulletin board.  You post photos from the internet and categorize them onto boards that are  labeled accordingly.  I have “products I love”, “crafty things”, “house and home”, “repurposed” and a bunch of others.  You download the “pin it” button and as you peruse the internet and see something you love, just download it to one of your bulletin board with the click of your mouse.  Now, you have shared your pin with the wide, wide, world of fellow pinners whom you also see on the main page and can “like” or “repin” any of their ideas.  Right click on any photo idea and it takes you to the website it came from.  You can check it out yourself at www.pinterest.com

Genius!!!

What surprises me however, are the pictures I post look NOTHING like my reality at home!!  I tend to be drawn to beautiful images of white linens and clean countertops.  This isn’t my home and unless I employ a full time cleaning lady (think Alice, from The Brady Bunch) it probably never will be.  There’s too many people living here and if I’m honest with myself, I will admit I’m not great at putting things back where I found them.  I also post a lot of crafty things I’ll never get around to making.  Just this past weekend my 11 year old pulled out two bags from the hall closet with all the ingredients to make these neat Santa ornaments that I bought last year.  I never made them, and chances are that stuff will sit around with the hope of being assembled next year.

I still love posting this stuff though.  It’s honest-to-goodness inspiration.

Definition:  inspiration (noun) inspə ràysh’n  1.  Stimulation to do creative work or for the human mind to creative thought or to the making or art.  2.  Somebody or something that inspires somebody to creative thought or to the making of art.  3.  Creativeness; the quality of being stimulated to creative thought or activity, or the manifestation of this.  4.  Good idea; a sudden brilliant idea.  5. Divine influence;divine guidance and influence on human beings.  6.  Breathing in; the drawing of air into the lungs.

How peculiar that there is one definition that speaks to our physical need for air rightbeside all these meanings of creativity.  Could it be that inspiration and creativity are part of our survival?  Maybe, you and I need stimulation on an artistic level to thrive and grow.  When I think about all my unfinished and finished holiday projects sometimes the greatest gift those ideas gave me was the much needed inoculation of the Christmas spirit!  What inspires us is where we see God; in clean white linen, in a repurposed household item, in flora or fauna….this is where we find beauty.

So inspiring!

You can read more of Beth's blog on www.theroadtofaith.com or follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/theroadtofaith