Making Things

My daughter has the most amazing ability to design and sew theater costumes and outfits. She shared with me her recent blog material about her design assignments at her college, and I was proud of her skills and problem-solving processes. She created this Chrysler Building dress for a recent season of The Producers. This past fall, she worked at her college with a costume designer, and one of the pieces Emily made was featured in a news release about the designer! http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10322/1104138-56.stm

Emily and I have watched "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel for a long time. Though not personally proud of that shows' teams, of course, I marvel their abilities, too, as they build devices that helped test popular myths and sayings. One of the builders created a hand out of bicycle chain and other materials--a hand that could grab and clutch by remote control--so they could test of the myth of the ninja who could grab arrows shot at him.

When I was a little boy, I enjoyed making model airplanes. I also liked to fuss with old radios, car parts, and so on. I didn't actually make anything out of them, nor did I have any talent for figuring out how things work. Wrapping a coat hanger wire around a lawn mower muffler and attaching it to a discarded car radio did not result in great technological innovation. I just enjoyed playing, though I also pretended I could stumble upon a fantastic discovery, the way Schroeder obtained a toy piano and enjoyed instant viruosity.

Sometimes childhood interests blossom into adulthood abilities, like Emily's long-time interest in manga, drawing, and costumes. My own childhood interests developed differently. But the ingenuity of Emily and others, who know how to make beautiful and amazing things, will always be something I admire!

The Bible has a few examples of craftspeople, notably Bezalel and Ohobiab (Ex. 31:1-5), who were entrusted with work on the tent of meeting; Bezalel himself was filled “with divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft” (31:3). We can't forget Jesus himself, who (we wonder) might have felt nostalgic about working with wood as he went about his ministries.