Go Make Stuff – The World Needs Makers

A few years back, I started a tradition of making memories with one grandchild at a time. When it was eleven-year-old Lydia’s turn, we drove south into California where we hugged a redwood tree, marveled at the crashing Pacific waves, spotted elk, and eventually landed on an organic beef ranch owned by extended family just outside the cute little Victorian village of Ferndale.

Lydia’s favorite memories of that place? Petting horses. Naming chickens. Riding an all-terrain utility vehicle to help feed the cows. Making a gingerbread house. And sleeping in a tent in the living room with cousins.

Back in central Oregon, we had pancakes for dinner, went to see Little Women at the theater, sampled the merchandise at Ida’s Cupcake Café, schlepped through powder on snowshoes, and I taught her how to sew hair scrunchies—which, apparently you wear on your wrist and not actually in your hair (it was a middle-school girl thing).

It was Nanea Hoffman who said:

“Go make stuff today. Make coffee. Make a ruckus. Make a difference. Make a memory. Make time for someone or something you love. The world needs makers.”

I made time for one-on-one fun with a granddaughter. And we made some epic memories in northern California and central Oregon.

And I suspect this time together made a difference in her life because I am one more adult who loves her and is partnering with her parents in nurturing her physically, mentally/emotionally, and spiritually.

This thought from Genesis 1:27 –

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

We were made in God’s image, which means we’re mini creators. We’re mini makers.

Go ahead, make a new friend.

Make a place in your heart for a foster or adoptive child.

Make dinner for the family that moved in down the street.

Make a plan to declutter closets and cupboards and garages to give away your excess stuff to someone who needs it.

Make time for a friend who’s grieving.

Make something of lasting value in a developing country—a school, a clinic, a better life.

Make amends.

Make un-erasable memories with a loved one.

What if you could make something really great? You can. Some assembly required.