| Threads in the tapestry
Have you ever noticed that God is sewing? I realized one day that if I
could look at the tapestry that God is sewing - and I could see it from HIS
point of view, my concept of this whole sewing process would probably be very
different. See, I look at the canvas from the bottom side. God is on the other
side and I am just a piece of thread. Many times when I catch a glimpse of what
color thread I am, I think my color must be grey or brown...some obscure color. I then
imagine that if I were to be on the other side of the canvas, trying to find the
postage-stamp corner where I am being sewn into the pattern, I would probably
have a hard time finding myself. However, when I started to imagine what GOD
must see, I realized that my color may appear grey to me because I am in the
shaddow of the canvas. Perhaps as God pulls my thread up through the canvas my
color is really gold or silver. Or perhaps I really am grey but
I am shading the twinkle in God's eye...in the self-portrait He is
stiching.
Because I can't really catch a glimpse of myself at all when I get pulled
to the other side of the canvas with his stitches, I have no idea what color HE
really sees in me. I have no idea what the big picture looks like. It must
stretch for miles...time eternal being what it is. Somewhere on the canvas is a
splotch of Moses and Joshua...in another corner is Queen Esther...I wonder what color her
threads were - purple?
And yet, God is pleased to use me because I am trusting him to make me a
strong, dental-floss-type of thread. I want everything HE is willing to put into
me, even if it means I am the running stitch around the hem of this canvas...I
imagine I really am that because we move so much that I just bump into other
threads briefly and then find myself in a totally new piece of cloth!
Though I don't understand how this whole process works, I do know that I
am happy being a piece of thread. I want my color to count. When God inspects
His work at the end of time, I want him to see that
little-two-milimeter-space-that-is-me to stand out when He looks at it. I want
Him to think, "I loved sewing with that strand." Because that is my desire, I am
trying not to complain when I feel Him tugging me or tying a knot. I don't want
to be bitter about the running stitches He has chosen to take with me- bouncing
in and out of the canvas. I want to do it with all the joy and acceptance I can
possibly do it with because the color HE sees on the other side of the canvas
will be dulled with complaints. Do you have a sense of your calling? Has He
threaded you onto His needle and it was painful? Don't fight it. Let him start
stitching. He has a beautiful plan. Jeremiah 29:11 promises that..."For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and NOT TO HARM YOU, plans for a FUTURE
and a HOPE." |