Why do I love to sew you ask? Ahhh, let me count the ways… #1
It connects me with my mom and grandmother. #2 Sewing allows me to use my creativity
on something other than my kids and husband. #3 It sucks me into a time warp
where suddenly I don’t feel hungry, tired or worried about life. All I can
think about is the next stitch and how excited I am to see the finished
product!! Sewing is not something I take lightly, actually, I don’t take
anything lightly, and so sewing obviously is no different! I also race to
finish things, so I’m terrible at a seeing fabric draped over the machine
waiting patiently for me to have time for it. I just part the waters of life,
sit down and SEW. All of that to say it was one of those “sewing weeks” as we
call it in my house, and this was one of the last pieces to make. It was a
sleep shirt. Simple… Easy… Right? Sort – of. I’d done this pattern before but
always messed up on the neckline. I thought I had figured it out and was
excited to get to the dreaded part, confident I knew what to do now. This
wouldn’t take long! Did I mention it was about 9pm…kids in bed…long day…husband
feeling a little lonely due to “sewing week”?? Well, that’s just a minor detail
anyway. So here we are…the neck seam and I had it figured out. I pinned. I
checked. I double checked. Finally I begin to sew, carefully and slowly because
I’m working with a knit fabric and a knit stitch that is almost impossible to
rip out if it’s not right. Excitedly I do the final backstitch, cut the strings
and examine my work. My heart says, thump, thump, thump… “NOOOOOOO” My idea was
not correct, I had stitched the whole thing wrong again! So instead of snuggling
next to my husband clothed in a homemade shirt, I, through clenched teeth and
watering eyes undid tiny stitches until my eyes couldn’t see anymore and my
stomach was in knot. Not the rewarding feeling I was looking for.
The next morning I woke up and after breakfast picked up
right where I left off. That’s when it hit me…
As the “creator” of this sleep shirt, there’s really no mess
up, no stitch that I can’t take out. Even if I messed up the whole thing or cut
it in two, I could always buy more fabric and do it again, because I have the
PATTERN.
Then I related it to MY life. There’s no stitch, no marks,
no cuts that God can’t fix. He has the pattern. He is my CREATOR, therefore, I
cannot mess up His masterpiece. Because actually, in my mess up, He becomes
MORE. You see that zig zag stitch there? That’s where I started to veer off the
right, chasing after the wind and God had to do some extra stitches there. You
see that my right sleeve is a different shade then the left? That’s because I
sewed it on backward. God decided to leave it as a reminder that He comes first
and when I’m abiding with him, I’m going to look different than those around
me. You see that neckline? All the holes because the stitches were taken out so
many times it put holes in the fabric? There wasn’t a way to pull out the stitches
(things in my life not honoring Him) without pulling out what was around it and
leaving a hole. Yes, I’m a mess. But I’m God’s mess, and He’s not finished with
me yet!!!
How can you relate that to your life? What stitches have
needed to be ripped out? Or maybe left in to remember He is perfect, we are
not. I pray you will let God be your Creator. I pray you dance in the freedom
of His arms. I feared messing up for so long it stunted by ability to dance
with Him. He loves us with an everlasting love. If you are in Christ, He loves
you just as you are today. We can embrace that truth and let Him create us as
He will.
This post has so much meaning to me personally. I first began to smile as I read of how sewing connects you to your mom and grandmom and then your analogy became deeper and wiser. We are not made with a cookie-cutter. Our Creator is infinitely creative. His universe is infinitely diverse. Rich, unexpected, breathtaking, strange, even hilarious. Yes, may we learn to dance in His trustworthy hands.
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