Seven days from now, it will be Christmas, and if you celebrate this "day of days", you know that people traditionally give gifts on that day. Well, I like to give people presents, and I absolutely love making things. Since I have quite a crowd headed to my house this year, I decided to look for something small and relatively simple that I could make rather quickly and tailor to suit several peoples' tastes.
Long story short, I was talking with my aunt about what she wanted for her birthday, and she said she wanted a quilted pillow. Aaaandddd after making one of those, I was hooked. So everyone is getting a quilted pillow from me this year. :)
Now you're probably wondering what this has to do with God's handiwork. My message today (or tonight, since it's almost midnight right now) is one that you hear day after day after day, if not from friends but from your own mind reminding you of its truthfulness.
I struggle a lot with insecurities. I think we all do at one point or another. I bet you, reading this right now, can think of at least one thing you don't like about yourself. Maybe you wish you looked better or had a girlfriend or didn't laugh so obnoxiously. Maybe you're like me and are insecure about a lot of things...afraid that you're too loud or too quiet or too clingy, or that you're just not good enough.
But today I was standing there in our basement (which doubles as a sewing room) and I was examining a quilted pillow top that I had made. I had drawn from the person's tastes when selecting the fabric -- or as I like to look at it, paint; combining his favorite colors and something he is passionate about into one 13" square of fabric.
And as I looked at it, I was proud of it...and the Spirit seemed to whisper to my soul that this was how it was when He created...me.
That He worked hard and long on me, laboring over me so I was *just* perfect. And when He was done, He looked at me...and He was proud of me.
And then I asked myself, "How would I feel if someone came along and said, 'That's the ugliest pillow I've ever seen!'?" (We do this to ourselves, but I just can't imagine a pillow cover looking in the mirror and pointing out its flaws). Perhaps the person would question my stitching or the size or the seam allowance or how it was ironed. The fact that my hand-quilted stitches are always far too big. The fact that my seams often don't match. The fact that I can't sew in a straight line. If someone came along and pointed all these things out, it would hurt...a lot.
This is how He feels about me -- but to such an extent that I cannot fully comprehend it.
Another thing I noticed today was that one of my pillows had an imperfection that I simply could not let pass. And so I got my mom's seam ripper and started ripping out stitches....five rows worth.
I guess you can say that's how it feels sometimes when He is refining us -- making us better. He is ripping out the bad things to put in the good.
And when I had finally finished a pillow, I turned it outside in (if you've never sewn, you sew everything face-side-together so your stitches are on the inside) and stuffed the pillow in. Then I saw a part where the stitches hadn't caught the top of the pillow cover all the way, and I needed to resew it. So I put it back on the machine and sewed a wider seam. It made me think about two things: again, the refining process, and the way He teaches us...when we are dense He sometimes chooses to take *drastic measures*.
I never thought making pillows for people for Christmas would have anything to do with God, but it did. Just goes to show that Spiritual analogies can be found anywhere you choose to look. :)
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