the little things Matter.

Recently I had a chance to be featured on the Zelie & Co. Instagram page with a set of my peg dolls and one of the churches I paint. I worked really hard on the church and the images for the auction of my items. Then the day came and there were a few issues with the images. I did what I could from my end and then went to daily Mass, where I was distracted the entire time. It felt stupid at the time. I mean, Mass is Heaven on Earth. Literally. And there I was, distracted about a meaningless (in comparison) auction on Instagram. The images got mostly resolved and then later the day my kids were going bonkers and knocked the church off of the table it was on...and broke it. Totally not their fault, just a downside of living in an apartment with kids while also having a small side business. As I sat and wallowed, my husband handed me the car keys and told me to go to adoration. I tried to make excuses but he wouldn't hear any of it - thankfully :) So off I went. As I sat and poured my heart out to the Lord about the church being broken, the auction, the lack of bids, and my whole Etsy venture, a few things became pretty clear.

1. I love that I can make a little money on the side to support my family through my Etsy shop, but the money isn't the main reason I opened the shop.
2. I had forgotten #1.
3. God was taking this auction and broken church as a much needed proverbial smack-in-the-face to remind me of both #2 and #1.

Flashback to when I wrote my book - I self-published it because I felt more called to get the book out there rather than keep it to myself, hunting for a publisher for years on end. Perhaps I could have made more money if I had gone with a big publisher, but it wasn't about the money, what mattered was the message. The same can be said of the saints. The money is nice, and there are costs I incur with painting (supplies, time, shipping, etc.), but it isn't all about the money. I love the saints. The lives of the saints are the super heroes we need, real life stories of miracles, people trusting in the Lord, models to look up to, people to mold our lives after. If these little pegs can help inspire people to get to know the saints better, then I want to be a part of that. It turns out that as the business has started to grow, I got a bit ahead of myself and needed to remember why I'm making saints in the first place: for the love of the saints and the Faith. Putting that first helped me leave that adoration chapel with a better perspective on the day and the mission I have for my shop. Or, perhaps better stated, the mission I feel called to with the shop. All for His glory, right? Right.