The Patchwork Quilt
Making
quilts has become a very popular hobby today.
In fact our church has a quilt making class where anyone can learn how
to make quilts. It’s a little different
now than it was when I was a child. No
one used a sewing machine and every stitch was done by hand. I recall a particular incident when I was
about 5 or 6 years old.
My mother
had sewn many small pieces of material together until it became the topside of
a quilt. Other ladies of the community
came to our house and using 4 long boards, which rested on the backs of chairs,
they tacked on the quilt top. To me it
seemed like a tent, so while the ladies worked on the quilt, I took my dolls
and played on the floor underneath it. I
looked up on the bottom of the quilt top and could see all these hundreds of ugly
strings hanging down. It was really ugly
and I didn’t see how that could be a quilt.
However, by
the end of the day, they took it off the boards and turned it over. To my surprise, the quilt was beautiful with
different pieces of material making pretty patterns. I looked it all over and saw piece of
material that was just like some of my dresses Mother made for me.
It’s been
many years since I played under a quilt being put together, but I can clearly
see how it is so much like a person’s life.
Many times our life seems to be ugly and ragged; without rhyme or reason
and we wonder where God is in all of this.
Let me tell you: He is right there looking from above at the finished
product.
Just like a
quilt has a pattern, God has a pattern for your life. “For I know the plans I have for
you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for evil, to
give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB ) Even
when things happen in your life that you don’t understand, God understands and
is trying to ‘piece it together’ according to His plan.
Even in the
worst of situations God not only sees what is happening to us now, but He also
can see the future for His children, if you are a believer. Romans 8:28 “We know that all
things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose.” He
sees the ‘finished product’ of our life.
Why does
God care so much about how I live? He
tells us in Psalm 139:13 , “For
You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. If you are a woman and have had babies, you
know while that baby was growing inside of you that you already loved it. It’s the same with God who formed us in our
mother’s womb. In the same scripture in verses
15-16, “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was
woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day
of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single
day had passed.” You can easily see
how God has His hand on your life from the time you were conceived and every
day of your life. God has kept track of
you each and every day until your time comes and His plan for you is complete.
Is it true
that God knows how long our life is going to be? King David knew that God held his life in his
hands and knew we sometimes forget how quickly the years go by. We seem to think we will remain on this earth
forever. “LORD, remind me how brief
my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how
fleeting my life is.” (Psalm 39:4)
God gives us so many days to live before He calls us to be with
him. Remember in Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 “To every thing there is a season, and a
time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a
time to die.”
God is our heavenly ‘quilter’ and
keeps putting our life into his hands. We can plan to do all sorts of things,
but God is still in charge if we allow him.
Just when we think we have it all planned out and our plans fall apart;
we become disheartened. Listen to this:
“A man's heart plans his way; but the LORD directs his steps.” (Proverbs
16:9) When things don’t
seem to go as we planned, tell the Lord, “Okay God, you take over.” You will notice how much smoother the task
when God has him way in your life. One
day you will understand and God will show you the finished product and you will
praise God for how he put it all together.
Just like a beautiful quilt. Amen
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