Patchwork

So lately I have been doing odd jobs around the neighborhood.  These jobs vary from remodeling a houseboat (gutting it, painting, putting up new paneling, installing new flooring, power-washing exterior and possibly painting a bit of the exterior), mowing lawns, babysitting, and patching up an old quilt.  I find pleasure in each of these jobs in different ways.  I love being able to work on something that produces visible results and being around kids so these jobs have been perfect for me.  I think the job that I have come to love the most is patching up that old quilt.  I love sewing, it is tedious but also relaxing, and in the long run, it provides a since of ownership and accomplishment.

My neighbor absolutely loves this quilt; it is old, faded, worn, and falling apart in many places but yet she still loves it.  This morning I was sitting and thinking about that old quilt and how it wasn't always that way, at one point it was new, right off of the sewing machine.  Then it dawned on me, how we are just like that quilt...
I don't know if you have ever made a quilt or know someone who has but there is loads of planning and prep work that go into a quilt long before it is even sewn together.  The maker must decide on a pattern, then pick the colors, then the layout of the colors, tediously sew each piece together, ironing out all of the seams on the back (the side that no one will see), then choose a batting, pin it all together, flip it inside-out sewing the back on, then reversing the quilt flipping it right-side out, tack the quilt to make sure the batting doesn't munch; then once all of that is done...the creator can sit back and marvel at their work.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together int he depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ~ Psalm 139:13-16

God, as our Creator, took the time to plan each of us.  He made each one of us out of a unique pattern with different colors and backing.  He took the time to stitch each one of us by hand until we were exactly what He pictured.  His masterpiece!

For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. ~ Ephesians 2:10

Once we are made, we are put to use, it may not be to keep someone warm, but God has a specific plan for each of us.  As we do what we were created for, we gradually get those wear and tear marks.  It starts with a small snag, where one of our seams has gotten stuck on something.  This something may distract us for a second or two and we think it won't be a problem so we keep going, doing what we were made to do.  Then that snagged seam begins to unravel, which leads to a hold, which exposes our weakness, our innermost stuffing.  We try and do what we can to cover it up, sometimes we may even just ignore it, but eventually we find ourselves getting snagged on more and more things around us.  This causes us to slowly loose sight of what we were made for because we become so consumed with trying to cover up our insides/stuffing.

We continue in this cycle for a while until our Owner, someone like my neighbor, who loves the mess of a quilt that we are, cares enough about us to find a way to patch us up.  Our Owner loves us to much that He becomes the Sewer.  He pulls out His needle and thread and begins to patch each of our ripped seams, one at a time.  This process is slow and tedious.  Some of the ripped fabric may need to be bunched up or stretched out in order to repair the damage.  It may seem easier at some points to just rip out the old pieces of fabric and repace them with new patches but...

"No one tears a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ~ Matthew 9:16

So as we are mended from our wear and tear we are poked, prodded, stretched, cut and sewn.  The process is a painful one and many times during it we find ourselves questioning why we even need to go through it.  We may resist or even walk away from the Sewer's hands, but when we finally realize that we need to be fixed and that we can't do it ourselves, we come back.  The Sewer is always there, ready to mend and repair.

We cannot see how damaged we are but our Creator/Owner/Sewer/God has eyes that can see beyond our rips and tears, back to the masterpiece He created us to be. And only He has the means to restore us to that masterpiece!