I’ve spent the last 10 days organizing my crafting castle. This is an annual tradition. After the busyness of the season and glitter spreading mess, I have to take inventory. I have to shop the after Christmas sales and prepare for the next year. I have restocked. I am ready.

Christmas morning, I received a special gift from my mom. You must know that all of my decorating skill is inherited straight from her genes. She is genius. This year, she made me a custom crafting belt. A tool belt of awesomeness, it holds everything from wire cutters to zip ties – all with personalized leopard print fur so as not to be lost or stolen. Did I mention that she is genius? This along with my prized cordless glue gun makes me a crafting force to be reckoned with.

I love a glue gun. Glue guns are truly the best tool. Aside from the damaging burns, they are one of the single greatest inventions of the 20th century. Confession time, I have more than a dozen. Yes. I have small ones, big ones, mostly cheap ones, a few nice ones and one that is the Cadillac of glue guns. All great things can be made and repaired with the magic of hot glue. I have even taken a hem with my glue gun. Boss.

I think the world needs more glue gun artists. It’s quite possible that my affinity for the glue gun is rooted in the fact that I thrive in crisis. In a moment of immediate need, I jump in with both feet. I move to action, and with the power of hot glue, I affix myself to the task at hand. I attach myself to learning and study and knowledge. I use all of the power of my brain, my obnoxious question asker and my big mouth to get up in the business at hand.

2019 is already off to a wild start. My dad has already competed his first hospital stay with a new dimension to his care. Friends are fearing the unknown of the government shutdown. Others are trying to stay engaged in their call to justice when our world seems so very unjust. We are 8 days in, and I have been in glue gun mode literally and figuratively on multiple fronts.

It was just today that I took the time to put away my box of Christmas gifts. I was re-acquainted with my craft belt and excited to put her to good use. But there was another gift, as well. One that you will see daily on my wrist as a reminder to my soul. My mom gave me a bracelet. It reads “love is stronger than hot glue.’ My mom gets me. On so many fronts, I would like to think that the power and the punch of my glue gun can hold all things together. But there is a bigger weapon at our disposal. One that is messy and asks for sacrifice. One that is at times inconvenient and yet so very precious. And for the people that we would walk through life beside, we need measure upon measure of this bonding agent: love.

I need this reminder – today and next week and forever. For the times that I’m tired and angry and emotionally spent. For the times when I want to let go, but I can’t, because I have been given a glimpse of what it is like to live from a place that is more powerful than my favorite adhesive. So for today, I’m choosing to love in big and impractical ways so that others may see the strength of love.