God Knits Us Into a Beautiful Creation

 

 I have learned a second knitting stitch!  It has taken me over two years of doing the pearl stitch and making MANY dishrags.  Some of these dishrags had flaws and some did not.  There was no rationale as far as which ones were good.  I might make two great ones and one with 3 holes.  My confidence would grow as I would produce a good one and it would plummet when I would make a bad one.  And so I stayed stuck in my pearl stitch. Over and over and over.

     

     I few weeks ago my knitting teacher shook it all up.  She, in a kind but firm voice, told me to finish the dishrag I was making and get ready because I was about to learn another stitch.  It was the kind of voice that left no room for conversation.  I wasn't sure she knew what she was getting into.

    

   But you must know that this teacher and I have a history.  She has been teaching me for over 20 years.  We met when Taylor and I had started dating and I immediately knew there was something special about this woman.  After we married some of my friends and I asked (begged) her to begin to teach us.  We were young and stupid (not exaggerating).  If any of those women are reading this now they are agreeing.  We were wearing some very distorted rose-colored glasses.  I mean, wasn't it our husband's job to make sure that our wants as well as our needs were fulfilled?  Didn't they need to drop everything for our "Honey Do" list,  just waiting to do the next project we deemed necessary?

    I remember one lesson very specifically.  One of us (could have been all of us) was asking a question.  There was a very IMPORTANT job that needed to be done at her house that she could not do herself.  She had asked and asked and asked but her husband had not prioritized that particular project.  Even as she talked the blood pressure of the collective group went up.  We were all identifying with her predicament.  The nerve of that man!  How dare he!  And the response we heard that day has stuck with me all these years.  Our teacher said, in the sweetest most gentle way, "Honey, that is just the devil."  We were shaking our heads in agreement.  It was the devil manipulating the husband! Teach it sister, we were all agreeing!  That is until she continued.  She taught a whole new lesson that day.  She taught us how we were thinking only of ourselves.  She explained how we are called to love and care for our husbands and not fight against them.  We learned that day that we were placing our attention on things to do, instead of people to love.  Wether that job ever got done or not, we were called to love our spouse, like Jesus loves us.  The room fell silent as we all saw the junk in our lives and realized it really was the enemy trying to manipulate us. 

     The question was posed, "What are we supposed to do then?", still thinking about the unfinished job that just HAD to be done.  Her response was, "Take that to the Lord and trust Him for it."  Again silence.  This was brand new to us.  We had some thinking to do.  She encouraged us that day to begin to place our focus on loving our husbands well and laying these other things down in faith.  

But we trusted her and we tried. 

     The next week the room was a buzz.  The young lady who had been so fired up the week before jumped right in when we started.  She was grinning from ear to ear as she told her story about how she had done just what our teacher had suggested.  She just quit thinking about that job and started thinking about her husband.  She just loved her husband and moved on. She was so excited as she shared that her husband had ended up doing the job after all.  She wasn't advocating being nice in order to get what you want.  She was marveling at how she found that loving others well was our number one priority and that God was more than capable of handling the details. 

     As I sat with my knitting this week I realized that I never should have questioned my teacher's encouragement.  We have had way to much water under the bridge, in over two decades, for me to wonder if she knows what she is talking about.  That is why tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at the beautiful (to me) scarf that was in my lap.  I have not only learned another stitch but I am following a pattern to make the scarf!  I would never have believed I could have done it and I would not have done it if it had not been for my dear teacher.  It has 3 holes in it that I will need to take to my next lesson to get her to pull together for me...but isn't that the way it is supposed to happen.  I have run to her with "holes" many times.  Some of them are the fault of others and some of them mine.  And she will look at me lovingly and honestly in both cases.  She will encourage me to quickly forgive and generously love when I have been wronged.  And she will lovingly and honestly call me out when I have fallen short.  The years have taught me to eat humble pie and realize that we all fall short at sometime or another. 

     To look back and realize where we were keeps us real.  To look at today and know where we are is  humbling.  But to look forward and to know where we are going is empowering!  We aren't meant to do one stitch over and over for the rest of our lives, only making dishrags. Who even likes to do the dishes?  And we aren't meant to remain in that place of always expecting life to be what we want it to be and to expecting people to do what we want them to do.  It just isn't all about us.  This life is short and we have been promised a banquet feast with our Beloved at the end of our journey.  It is time to embrace the journey between today and eternity.  Let's love those God has put around us, realizing that He has the details right in the palm of His hand.