For those that don't know me yet, I'm actually quite a crafty person. I can crochet, knit (barely), cross stitch, and hand and machine sew. This week, the bug has bitten me again. I'm desperate to start a cross stitch project that's come into my head, and a new crochet project has caught my desire, as well.
There's a bit of a problem with starting the cross stitch...I can't find my software to convert the picture that I want to do. I've not seen it in probably three years. OK, easily sorted...order new software from PC World online. Now it's biding out my patience for it to arrive in '3 to 5 days'. I then need to decide how much of what colour of aida, order it, then wait for it's delivery. Having to have patience sucks.
So, I stopped into town yesterday to buy some new wool, and started on my crochet project last night. I managed to get a few rows completed, then disaster struck. I realised that when I found the end in the centre to start with, it was twisted with the opposite end and tangled in clumps. Add on that Loki decided that when the clump came out, it made an ideal kitty pillow. I am quite grateful that he was feeling too lazy to do his normal thing of adding to the tangle. I did have to put my project aside so that I could attempt to detangle everything, ball up the end, and regain sensibility. I spent over an hour and a half, and it's still in a clump of mess on my bedside table. Sigh. Rainy Saturday afternoon, the Imp is playing with her cars and garage in the dining room, ideal time to chill with a bit of craftiness. I'm sure that I'll get the clump sorted today, but it's frustrating.
All of this has made me thing about all of the things that we want or need to do, and we either have to wait longer than expected, or we don't complete them at all. I have other cross stitch and crochet projects in a bag that I've put aside for other things and they then gather dust. I'm the world's biggest procrastinator when it comes to tidying up, and I'd much rather spend time with the Imp. We lack the funds, so all the festivals like the Mercian Gathering, and LARP events that I'd like to try go by the wayside. They would definitely enhance the both of our lives, including our social lives, but it's just not happening. I did have a physical New Age bookshop, but had to walk away from it due to us being kicked out of our home by my ex partner when he chose somebody else. I now have four bookcases full of books in my bedroom that I occasionally list a few on Amazon, when I'm not procrastinating about it.
What roadblocks come across your path that makes you divert and not complete the path you are on? Do you go back and try to finish that path? Do you find out that it may have been the wrong path, and you're new path is the better path? I'm talking about life in general, as well as your faith. Does your faith keep you on a straight and narrow path, or does it have bends in the road, with the occasional boulder that is placed in the way that makes you a stronger person.
Which path is better? I guess that would depend on the person. Sometimes that straight and narrow path is what a person can cope with. Sometimes, that straight and narrow is your path, but you've put blinders on so you can't see the diversions that might be the better choices. Granted, those diversions might be the wrong choice, but you will never know until you experience it, and if it's not the correct path, there's always a way back to the right path.
Maybe there are lots of boulders in your path, that you have to struggle to climb over, or squeeze between to get by. Some people will just give up, stop, and their life becomes a stagnating and vicious circle of depression and unhappiness. For other people, that struggle is their depression, unhappiness and problems of life, but they can see the light on the other side, don't give up, and eventually end up happily following that path again.
We also have to remember that our paths cross and interact with the paths of other people. Their paths are all equally valid. A faith-inspired blog contest has really triggered my thoughts on this. There was some ugliness when one of the other bloggers, who is travelling on a path that forces her to wear blinders, targeted another blogger from another faith, just because their paths are different. Whose path is right, and whose is wrong? It's not for us, as humans, to judge. The judgement will come from the higher powers that sit at the end of our path...the God, Gods, and/or Goddesses. You may not believe in a higher power. That's fine. As long as the path that you follow is the one that at the end you feel like you've truly accomplished something, and that you can look back and see that you've behaved with honour. We can't force others onto our paths. Your path is the one you should be following. There will be paths that run next to each other, but we all encounter different experiences.
I personally came across a fork in the road when I was 17. Did I follow the path that I had been following, that made me feel stagnated, inferior and overall unhappy, or did I follow the new path of discovery that I could see a light at the end? Seventeen years later, and I feel that I chose the correct path...the path of discovery. I have had my boulders through the years...some of them have been some real doozies...but I've always come out at the end with my faith intact, that my Gods and Goddesses are there in full support and comfort. It wasn't the coldness and arrogance of one overall Supreme Being reminding me on a regular basis that what I did was wrong, and that I am always in the wrong. It was the support network of equals that are always there, with the encouragement that it's not just me and things will get better. My network might not be as mighty, but there is strength in numbers.
This was proven in that blog contest. We might not be a faith that is almighty, but we're there for each other in one big net.
In all of my rambling, I do eventually get to the point. Now, I think I'll stop procrastinating for the day, get a bit of tidying done in my living room (now that I've just received a huge kiss and cuddle from the Imp), and the Imp and I can get that wool untangled. Um, maybe I shouldn't ask the Imp to help me with that...at three, she's likely to enjoy making it worse than it is. But there will be future projects that she can help me with, that I can teach her. This is just the beginning of her path and, for the moment, it sort of runs parallel to mine until she's big enough to make the decisions for herself.
Mel
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