President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a powerful talk last year (October, 2008) entitled: Happiness, Your Heritage. A video was later created by the Mormon Church showing beautiful photography and excerpts from his talk entitled, Create. You can view the video here.
How do you create? Did President Uchtdorf’s words inspire you? Please tell us!
We would love to see photos of your creations, too. This could include almost anything: art, photography, sewing, cooking, gardening, writings, crafts, woodworking, clothing, music, etc. Please send photos of your creations, along with a simple explanation of how it was created and why, to mormonwoman at gmail dot com [or mormonwomen at gmail dot com]. We are looking forward to your submissions!
For more Weekly Questions, please click here.
I like to interior decorate with items I find on craigslist or at yard sales. From victorian to mid century modern – I love it all. I wish I had different spaces to reflect all of my interest. For now, I’ll have to settle with Traditional. Having beauty around me at home is important to me. My very favorite items (aside from kids) in my house are 2 large stained glass windows we bought used off of ebay in our first year of marriage. They make me smile.
I am an artist and jewelry designer. I have been creating all my life in one form or another. I have e-mailed a photo to this site of one of my paintings.
I’ve made a couple of rag quilts, and of course, I’ve always been a scrapbooker.
Food! I love to cook and especially bake. This was definitely not something I always loved. My love came out of necessity–I was tired of eating my horrible cooking, so I decided it was time to learn how to cook. I think I am happiest when I’m feeding people–I love trying new recipes and tweaking my favorite old ones.
i taught the fourth sunday lesson on this talk in relief society in april and i loved being able to share this video! for part of the lesson, i thought of something each of our brand new members of the ward rs presidency had helped me to create. our rs president uses an online photo album publisher to make albums for her kids, since she can’t scrapbook. she makes one album that covers each year and prints them en masse for each family member. LOVE that idea!
one counselor quilts and taught me how, which is a new addiction. another counselor homeschooled her daughters and helped me to create a homeschool lesson plan to use for my kids. the secretary is in her 50’s and has just taken up piano lessons. after speaking with her after one of her lessons, i sat down at a piano and was amazed that i could plunk out a simple hymn without a shred of musical ability. my girls were ecstatic that they could recognize “i am a child of god” and shrieked, “you made music, mama!”
i create a lot of things. i am a jack of all trades and master of none! my friends and i have a list of new skills we’d like to learn and lately, we’ve taught/learned how to CREATE soap, jam, cheese, yoghurt, and crochet.
also, what stuck with me most out of president uchtdorf’s talk was that the definition of “create” is to simply make something that was not once there, be it something as simple as a smile. i love the idea that we are all creative persons, even if we don’t do something that’s “typically mormon” like scrapbook or quilt or the likes.
It seems as though we create every day. What I love about President Uchtdorf’s talk is that he urges us to see the God-like qualities in ourselves that are exemplified in creative endeavors. We are very very simply following in our Heavenly Father’s footsteps by interacting with our surroundings in a positive way, creating, not destroying. Just think of the wonderful place our world would be if everyone created more than they destroyed.
Creating brings light and happiness into my life. I create meals, clean laundry, a garden, an essay, happy children, greater intellect, a comfortable home, friends, paintings, a healthy body, beautiful thoughts, and a peaceful spiritual life.