dress it and keep it

I was amazed and I'll admit, delighted when I heard Elder Uchtdorf say these words at the LDS General Relief Society Meeting in October:

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul....we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before...Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty...One of the ways we find [joy] is by creating things.

Then in the Saturday afternoon session of the general conference Elder Bednar talked about spiritual creation preceding temporal creation. He said:

...meaningful morning prayer is an important element in the spiritual creation of each day--and precedes the temporal creation or the actual execution of the day.

I know in Alma that we are taught to pray about EVERYTHING but in the past and I am still striving to get over it, I have felt a little bit frivolous praying for help organizing and/or beautifying my home when world peace and world health would be so much more beneficial to mankind.

Not to say that I haven't prayed for help with personal projects in the past, but I have usually couched them in terms like, help me to be productive in the things that I do.  I am trying to walk forward with faith. So, with that six paragraph introduction, I will get to the point.

My husband expects that I will be able to match a piece of tile that was made in the late 1800's and purchased in the UK. He thinks that I will find this perfect match so that we can tile a part of the wall in the kitchen next to the trash bin that gets a lot of abuse making it easier to clean and better looking.

I prayed. I asked my friend where she would go to find tile. I went where she suggested. I found the perfect tile, complete with crackles to make it look aged. I ordered it. I was amazed.

I am grateful...so grateful that I have the same Help available to me that Adam and Eve had when they were told to dress the garden and keep it. I also found some interesting fabric at fabricguru.com to make some new kitchen curtains. I am looking forward to the arrival of both in the mail in the next few weeks.

Elder Uchtdorf:

The more you trust and rely upon the spirit, the greater your capacity to create...As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you.

I am thankful for my husband who believes in me, encourages me and who is ultimately willing to do the work that "my creating" will devolve upon him.