It involves a cross-stitched quilt.
The design comes together, stitch by stitch.
It involves a mix of colors that are incorporated one thread at a time.
If you were to judge how well it is coming together by the underneath, you would mistakenly believe that it was just a tangle of mismatched threads.
However, should you turn it over you would see a lovely pattern in process.
So with life.
Often we cannot see beyond the tangle and knots that seem to make up our lives. It can lead us to question what God is thinking or if He is even involved.
We do not realize that He is seeing the "top" of the quilt and knows what colors and threads are needed for it to be complete. For the depth of beauty to be full.
It is too easy, at times, to let those tangles and knots fill my vision. When that happens, Papa in His infinite wisdom and grace waits until I bring the mess to Him. Once I do He reminds me that He is making something beautiful out of all of it, that He has a good plan, that He hasn't deserted me and will not in the future.
If I refuse to turn to Him, I begin to believe that I am a victim. I become weighted down with the mess. Poor me.
That leads to a sense of helplessness of the kind that leads to hopelessness.
Then the colors that are being woven will lose their vibrant colors and grow dull.
The design will be less creative and grow unappealing.
The knots and tangles will become the main thing.
Not something the wonderful Creator would choose.
His creation is far from dull and unappealing.
All that He has created is intricate and beautiful.
Today I spoke with a woman who had been in a serious car accident a number of months ago.
She wanted to list all the injustices that had been done to her and all her needs.
I let her talk.
She wanted justice.
She wanted her needs met at the cost of others.
And she wanted it all now. (Don't we all!)
She was bitter.
I asked her to tell me about the accident.
The bottom line?
She got into the car of someone who was going to drive drunk.
Choices were made.
All choices have consequences, some good, some bad.
Now it was my turn to talk.
The real bottom line is that she needs to turn to the Living God.
She replied that she believed in God.
Ah, so do the demons.
It takes more than believing.
It takes receiving.
It takes a relationship.
One that involves our hearts.
It begins with a realization of our need.
Our need of a Savior.
Not just for the present situation, but for all of life, past, present and future.
He is the One who can and will make sense out of all the tangles and knots.
I told her that, most likely, He won't wave His Hand and set everything right, but He will give her peace and guide her through all of it step by step.
I encouraged her to put her trust in Him, one day she will look back and say that all the mess was worth it all because she came to know Him and His love.
One day, thirty-two years ago He spoke to me in the Eleventh chapter of Matthew, verses twenty-eight through thirty and I went to Him.
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
As I trust Him to take the lead and thus follow Him, I get glimpses of the beautiful weaving that His skillful Hands are creating from the tangles and knots of my life. He desires to do that in each and every life.
Allow the Master to make something beautiful from what looks like one big mess.
In His Hands it is far from only tangles and knots!
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