A Time for Soap

If only I had more time to do all the things I love doing. I love to sew, write, read, make soap, bake, garden, paint, and still have time to hang out with my family. There just are not enough hours in a day. There is always something on the list, like the overalls I just finished that my daughter is wearing while playing the piano. She is growing so fast that I cannot keep up with her wardrobe needs anymore. I am facing the reality that she might have to wear what "all the other kids" are wearing. Maybe that will have to be ok.

I took the girls to dance today and stopped to talk to a friend. I had given her a bar of soap to test out for me. She loves it and said she wants to buy a bunch for the holidays as gifts. I've given it to other friends and they too want to buy more. The realization that I do not have enough to survive the holidays sent me into a bit of a panic this evening. What can I bump to make soap? If it takes a few weeks to cure, I better get busy. For the longest time it seemed like I had so much laying around but now thinking about the holiday season and the potential for people to purchase several bars at a time, I definitely do not have enough.

I've decided soapmaking and sewing have a lot in common. The ingredients are like fabrics and the process is soothing like sewing. The finished garment and finished product beg to be shown off even if they are not perfect. We are definitely harder on ourselves when it comes to perfection. I see the wavy topstitching lines on my daughter's overalls. I see the flecks of color in my soaps that should have been mixed better. I see the uneven bars of freshly cut soap. I see that one leg is an 1/8 inch longer than the other. These are not things that anyone else would ever notice. To me they look like big neon signs. I suppose it's these errors though that keep us going, keep us creating. We want to be better than we were. We want a goal to work towards. So it is the same with our walk with God. He wants us to be better than we were too. He wants us to keep our goal in focus. Moving further in a craft is like moving further along the spiritual path. We will make mistakes but it is ok.