Try, Conquer Your Weaknesses

My daughter is brave and loves to try challenging things. If only I took after her …….

“Try,” she whispered across the table. “Don’t give up.”

“I can’t.” I looked at the sewing machine, my nemesis.

The vest hung from the sewing machine platform with crooked seams that I now needed to tear out. Two weeks I had worked on that vest. It was crooked, one side longer than the other.

“Just tear out the seam and try to resew it again,” my home economics teacher instructed a little louder this time, having given up whispering.

I hated this with a passion. It was too hard. I wanted to throw the ugly, lopsided vest away. I felt the beginnings of a tear stinging my eyes. I decided not to cry right then and there. I willed myself to try one more time and started attacking the misshaped seam mercilessly and yanked the thread out. Then smoothing the seam, I tried to line it up again. This time as a I sewed, I saw the seam was only slightly crooked. “Good enough.” I told myself and finished the bottom seam on the ugly vest.  I received a “B” for the ugly thing that took me two weeks to finish but only two days for my other classmates who finished bigger and better projects, shirts, purses, and even pretty blankets.

Not for me. I wouldn’t have time to complete another sewing project. We were going to rotate to iron works next in our special sixth grade classes. I had had leather works, drafting, art, music, and sewing to date. We had cooking and iron works left for the year. I forget how many weeks we stayed in each class in my old Northridgeville Middle School in Ohio. I had never had such a wide range of classes again in school. I loved these classes, except for the sewing class. My favorite were leather works where I had fashioned a belt and cooking where I made a A on my broccoli presentation and cooked a casserole that I took home because no one in my class like broccoli.

The ugly vest earned a spot in my mom’s closet because of her pride in my attempt at sewing. My mother is an expert sewer. She can’t write and hates writing, but she can sew projects of great beauty. My sister is an artist and draws with such precision. I am not good with my hands, crafting is my weakness. I type and dictate words. This writing is my art, my love.

I have made other attempts to try something new to only meet with great frustration. Driving is another area of weakness. It took me seven attempts to get my license. I remember my last attempt at getting my license. My knees shook violently as I tried to parallel park my car. It was a boat, a station wagon that I had just bought. I wish I had found a smaller car.

“Come on try. You can do this.” I told myself silently in my head. I just knew the officer checked the fail box already. I parallel parked on my third attempt, pulling my car just within the required margins. I received a 79 on the test. A miracle! I still find driving my car as a weakness. I have depth perception blindness and to this day hate to pull out in oncoming traffic. I hate driving at night because of night blindness.

Trying something new with faith and confidence has always been an issue for me.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MaryHill16″ url=”https://www.maryanderingcreatively.com/?p=4213″] As I have grown older and face new challenges, I remember the scripture, Philippians 4:13.[/tweetthis]

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MaryHill16″ url=”https://www.maryanderingcreatively.com/?p=4213″]I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.[/tweetthis]

What things do you find challenging?  Have you tried to do something and failed and kept trying? I want to encourage you to keep trying. The results of your efforts may be something like my misshaped vest, but take pride that you faced your weakness and were able to overcome and became a conqueror.

Romans 8:37

This post is written Kate Motaung’s   where the word this week is : Try.

Also contributing to: