Do Our Hobbies Contribute to Over Consumption and Excess Waste? (And If So, What Can We Do About It?)

Hey Everyone,

I've always been interested in creative hobbies. When I was growing up, I wanted to try it all: cross stitch, sewing, embroidery, candle making, soap making, etc. As I grew older, I realized that every hobby requires: 1. space -- not only to work in, but to store supplies; 2. resources -- time and money, which were usually stretched thin, and 3. a purpose -- what use was it to make something if it couldn't be put to good use?

Over the years, I whittled it down to two main areas -- sewing and jewelry-making. Ironically, I'm not into fashion and I don't really wear jewelry, so most of the things I made were given away. I have no interest in trying to sell them on Etsy, etc. because for me, the minute I would try to commercialize anything, it would no longer be fun.

I haven't participated in either of these things in a long time, and have been talking to God often about how, why, or if I should get back into them. I honestly don't need any new clothes or jewelry, but I like challenging myself. However, I don't want to make things that will only burden people with more junk that needs to be decluttered, or that they don't actually like but just accept out of obligation. I know I could make things specifically for specific people, and of course I've done this in some cases, but it takes much more work/coordination. I find that this also cuts down on a person's creative freedom because they're creating for someone else, rather than making what they feel drawn to make.

I've looked into participating in charitable work, but all that's offered are in areas I have no skill or interest in (such as making quilts, etc.) And so I have this dormant, yet actively gnawing feeling that I SHOULD be doing something in these areas -- but I'm just not sure what.

I have always loved and been drawn to people who have artistic skill. I don't consider myself one of them -- I can only follow a pattern if I'm lucky -- and I can't come up with my own designs. I have often wondered if, in heaven, God will say to all the artists, "Ok, I have this entire space I want you to fill with your creations -- and when that's all done, I'll have another blank canvas waiting for you!"

For myself, I don't want to just endlessly make things that will just be thrown away without actual use or purpose. I got to a point where I felt like there's only so much I can make either for myself or to give away, so I just stopped, but I still feel creatively restless -- and so I keep asking God, "What do I do now?"

I would like to know how others fuel/tame/make the best use of their hobbies, talents, and interests -- whether it's cooking, music, art, crafts, woodworking, sports, whatever it may be -- how do you use it to the glory of God and service of others?

* What are your hobbies/things you enjoy doing most in your spare time?

* How do you decide what to make/work on/do, and what do you do with the finished product/result?

* If your hobby is something like sports, fishing, exercise, etc., is there a way to use it to help others?

* Do you ever worry about your creations just winding up as contributions to the local landfill? Does this stop you from making anything else?

* What do you do if your hobbies are starting to take up too much room, money, and time -- but you feel as if cutting back would be losing a part of yourself?

I'm hoping this will turn into an interesting discussion.

We all have things God put in us that we're drawn to, and I'd like to know if, or how everyone else deals with these challenges when pursuing them.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

To the title: It must depend upon the hobby, which hobby?

I listed several in the beginning post -- I was particularly thinking of hobbies that produce things, like arts, crafts, woodworking, etc.

But choose whatever you're interested in, because I think they all apply!

For instance, if someone likes sports -- how do they use that in their Christian walk? By inviting people over and having fellowship while watching games? By volunteering to play/host/contribute to charity sports events?

If someone likes fishing/the outdoors, how do they use it to be useful? Do they find it a good time to talk with God? Invite others along and enjoy edifying each other?

And the list goes on.

I'd like to know how other Christians use their hobbies to grow their faith and not just produce/participate in endless things without having a purpose behind them.

seoulsearch said:

I realized that every hobby requires: 1. space -- not only to work in, but to store supplies;
2. resources -- time and money, which were usually stretched thin, and 3. a purpose --
what use was it to make something if it couldn't be put to good use?

Click to expand...

Hello Seoul sister, I am sorry to hear you feel at such a loss as to how to harness your creative impulse.
I once looked into colouring black and white photos as something I might like to do, but the cost was
quite prohibitive! Even in my work as a photo printer, as much as I have enjoyed all these years being
able to make people's personal memories look as good as possible, I have realized that many of the
pictures I print may end up in a landfill some day, some sooner than later! But that is beyond my control.

I do like the fact that I can create my Scripture panels without using anything other than digital
media stored on a computer using a program that allows me to do what I do, even not knowing as
much of the program I use as I would like. For instance, yesterday I was showing someone part of the
process involved in transforming a woman's face for my most recent panel, and it took me an hour trying
to figure out how to make an animated gif and fix other problems I ran into along the way. I have animated
images before but do it so seldom, I have to look it up each time because I invariably choose a wrong
selection right at the beginning and then have trouble figuring out how to select the right one. Also, no
matter how I try I cannot get rid of the unwanted text on the third image of the series! I am flummoxed!!!


1 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 2:13

Thank you. I see no inherant wrong in having a hobby unless it takes one away from the Way in Jesus Yeshua.

Not sure if my hobby counts any more. Used to, music would take up LOTS of space - CDs, records, cassettes, various musical instruments, not to mention FX boxes and random audio gear.

Now all it takes is one laptop. Soon I can see where it'll be down to just a phone. More than ten thousand songs, tons of virtual instruments and FX for making tracks, all in one little plastic package.

I love technology.

Now sourdough bread, that takes up a bit of space. But I don't do that right now, for reasons, and it was a consumable anyway. After you eat it, it's gone.

Hopefully I have fixed it now? LOL! Thank you for inspiring me to try harder! .

Showing more of the process here, trying out different backgrounds
and effects and sampling different eyes and whatnot for the face...

Time to get out and about!

I try to go jogging at least 5 days a week, 5 miles a day. The major expense is appropriate shoes that work for me as they wear out pretty quickly.

Less than a year ago I joined Platte Rivers Veterans Fly Fishing, a non-profit group that teaches military Vets to make their own rods and tie their own flies. I try not to miss any sessions as I thoroughly enjoy it. They also offer day and multi-day fishing trips. I've been on 3 day trips this summer and have applied for one multi-day trip. I'm not a devoted fisherman like many are, but I've always wanted to be able to fly fish and wasn't quite able to teach myself. My casting is slowly improving and I've caught a few trout along the way with flies I've tied and a rod I built. As far as helping others, I took to tying flies so other newbies gladly accept my help and sometimes ask for it. I also encourage others to apply for the fishing trips and offer to car-pool with them. Many in the group are disabled or otherwise a little messed up from combat. Fly tying and fishing helps us find some peaceful time.

I don't worry about my contribution to landfills, I let landfill managers worry about stuff like that.

I recently relocated and during the process of moving got rid of probably 95% of our possessions. I'm trying to minimize accumulating a lot more stuff so my kids don't have to sort through it all after I go to glory. If I'm raptured first, hopefully all of my kids will be on that trip with me.

This was an awesome post!

I don't know the first thing about fly fishing (except that it doesn't involve a plane,) but I love your story of participating with a community and encouraging others through it.

I understand about sizing down -- for a while, I was interested in the tiny house movement until I realized it seems to be about as expensive as regular housing.

Thank you so much for sharing how God is blessing you, and helping you to bless others through your interests!

it's a "First Commandment" issue generally. God's not too interested in what you've got, but He's VERY concerned about what's got you. in general anything that has you depending on it for mental stimulation / happiness / fulfillment etc. is a potential threat to your dependance on God and HIS Kingdom as the object of your hope/interest.

In SOme cases when a hobby becomes an obsession, a clear break away from it is indicated for your spiritual well-being.

I have to admit I'm a bit envious of those who have hobbies that can be fulfilled digitally.

Unfortunately, every hobby I've gotten into is the exact opposite -- I still rely on actual physical books, as I find them easier to work with than scrolling through hundreds of pages when trying to learn a technique -- and tons of space is needed to set up and store a sewing machine, fabrics, bins of tools and accessories, etc.

I really admire people who can make so many beautiful things -- all while taking up very minimal space.

Great point about not letting a hobby become an obsession that takes over our lives.

I've seen videos in which people believe it's their life calling to rescue animals, which is wonderful, but... they don't know their limits or boundaries, and go into terrible debt/let their living quarters fall apart in the process.

Of course, this could go for any hobby, but thanks for the point about keeping it in check with our spiritual health.

I always think it's interesting how we look at an animal creations and think "wow, look what bees can do. Look what that beaver built."

But man builds entire cities and skyscrapers. "Ehh man is so wasteful." Or "man is so selfish."

Sooner or later everything decomposes. I mean there are issues, of course. But in a few hundred years it means nothing as nature takes over anyway.

People are designed to be creators. That's why we are "little gods." When your child brings home a craft for you. You don't say "wow how wasteful!" Kids are constantly making things and that's how they grow. So it is for people.

It's nice to use it for serving others. You can also make money doing this. It's not sinful to do that... in fact it's a law. It's designed to be this way. The more you serve others, the more money you make. Of course you can volunteer pieces and time too.

My husband does wood working, cnc machining, and resin decor. I do resin, painting, and leather jewelry and dog tags. Those things we sell.

I play the piano, violin. Sometimes I play at church but it's mostly just a hobby. My husband builds computers and sketches. Those are for fun.

Individual families are not the problem with the environment anyway. How many masks are floating in the ocean bc of a law they implemented for covid?? Why are oil rigs on fire 24/7 in Syria? Why are they constantly at war and killing people? Those type of things cause way more pollution and are bad for the soul.

KNITTING. And loads of yarn. I could have my own sheep, reducing the carbon footprint. And using the old spinning wheel handed down through generations. But there are so much yarn that I just need.... Need... It is an addiction. But the feeling of the texture. The combination of colors.

In a helping others perspective, I can supply the whole village with socks and most of them also felted mittens. That can be traded for fuel or fire wood when Putin comes marching in. Otherwise my hobby/addiction is purely selfish. And a way to cut expenses on the Christmas present budget (to my nephew's and niese's disappointment)

Loved this insightful post, thank you!

Very interesting point about animals doing what God made them to do... But when people do the same, it brings out all sorts of criticisms...

Your hobbies sound fascinating and it's awesome to see that God is obviously putting them to good use.

I prefer hard copy books as well, although I must admit I did purchase a Kindle Paperwhite and loved
being able to look up a word on the spot by touching it on the screen, or even accessing wiki to research
something relative to what I was reading, like Haile Selassie, whose name sounded familiar to me without
knowing much about him at all, during my perusal of whatever e-book I was reading at the time. However,
having access to so many books at once was a bit excessive for me with my addictive/obsessive/compulsive
personality... my daughter had given me a virtual library and reading four books a week just became too
much LOL and now I do not even know where that Kindle is! It is around here somewhere... I have gone
through spurts of reading a lot over short periods of time before, and find a good book hard to put down.

Ah! A sewing machine!!! I would love to have space for one of those as well. I also tried my hand at beadwork.
And macrame. LOL. And knitting. Drawing and painting in my youth... and photography. Playing guitar. I still
have two guitars, though I have not played for a few years now. It became problematic for me trying to find
people to play with... it may be that solo ventures like designing panels, which I have been doing for about
six years now, is better suited for me. I have slowed down on that some of late compared to the last couple
of years, when I was starting a new one every other day or so. I can't keep track of them all 😂

My closest sister has found a wonderful outlet for her creative drive by getting involved in church productions
like plays connected to schools and youth, where they need someone to create scenery items, or even sewing
stockings and other Christmas related items. Have you looked into anything like that? Of course she has
her own sewing machine and the space for storing other items needed because she lives in her own home,
but her creations are needed right away and leave her house as soon as they are done and ready for whomever.

I don't really have a hobby but I do love to read, mostly fiction.

As a person who has MANY hobbies and talents as you do....
Mine had a different purpose behind them.
I got involved into these hobbies out of a necessity and not just idle hands.

EVERY talent and skill came out of a need.

For example:
As an electrician I carried tools and used a hybrid shoulder bag/ tool belt pouch for my tools. And I went through these bags often....and lost tools and bits when this tool bag wore out. They just didn't hold up well when made out of nylon. So I really needed one made out of leather.

But when I looked for one made out of leather the price was astronomically high and was only halfway usable for me. Meaning it wasn't really at all.

So I designed and created a tool bag exactly as I envisioned to carry the tools I carried with exact places for each and every tool I carried and used every day. Specialty tools were in zippered pouches or on a squirrel pin (type of something akin to a diaper pin) and they attached by means of "D" rings and tape was held on by a copper chain and stopper.

Then during the creation I gained knowledge and skill....and I made all kinds of leather gifts for others such as various leather journals, friction pen holders, and zippered makeup bags....all stylized and personalized for those who would receive them. All these gifts were done with even more care and detailed finishing than my tool bag ever thought about. They got started because I had scrap leather to use after I made my tool bag. And these people expressed a desire for leather goods. Custom leather goods, hand sewn and individually crafted are not something you find in a mall or store front anywhere.
Sure I bought tools...needed them. But I repaired chair arms, fixed other guy's tool bags...did all kinds of things.

I never ever charge for any of this or sell anything....but when doing a piece I have the recipient fully in mind....I want them to use it regularly because it works well and is sturdy and fashionable.

Where home decorative furnishings and jewelry are very very personalized to individual tastes....a journal isn't so much. Nor is a makeup pouch...nor a fancy pen holder. But these pieces were each made out of love, honor, and respect for these recipients.