Give me a word, Lord: PATCHWORK QUILT

Psalm 139:13-16 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 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.

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

This past Friday, my aunt asked us to come to her home, the home of my late grandparents, to go through some of my grandmother’s things. She had a variety of personal belongings that had belonged to my grandmother, and she wanted to share these things with her grandchildren. There was nothing of great monetary value, but oh what priceless items she shared! She gave each of us an old quilt that had been hand sewn by my grandmother. These quilts were not show quilts that one would hang on the wall. No, these quilts were hand sewn together with great love and hard work by my daddy’s mother many years ago. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t only been sewn by my grandmother, they had also been well used over the years. The quilt I received is a beautiful patchwork of colorful fabric woven together so that each piece fits perfectly together to form a quilt. One of the edges is worn and raveling, but I still think it is a work of art because I know that it was created by the hands of my loving grandmother. And though the edges are unraveling, parts of the quilt are completely intact and secure: the quilting stitches. They may be the smallest stitches in the whole quilt, but they are also the strongest, and those simple hand sewn quilting stitches keep the quilt from falling apart.

I hung the quilt over my balcony railing. Though tattered and worn, it represents much more to me than an old bed covering. When I look at that quilt, I see a resemblance to each of our lives. We are like that old patchwork quilt. Our loving Father has crafted us. Yes, He knit us together in our mother’s womb, and He didn’t forget one single, perfect stitch. Just as every quilt that my grandmother made was unique, our Father created us uniquely different. He provided each of us with the perfect shade of color, and He gave each of us a distinct beauty of our own. There is not another quilt exactly like the one my grandma made in this whole world, and there is not another person exactly like you or exactly like me either. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made by our Father.

But that’s not all of the story. Our Father made us wonderfully, but He isn’t finished with us yet. He designed each and every one of us with a special plan in mind. My grandmother had to take a multitude of fabric pieces and place them together, fit the side by side, lay out a design, and carefully stitch the pieces in place to form the beauty of a quilt. Our Lord and Savior created each one of us with a very personal and specific plan for our lives. He gave each of us special talents and abilities to carry out that specific plan. Our Father adds and removes people from our lives that help shape us into the person that He desires for us to be. He may completely rearrange our lives when necessary to shape us for His use and His glory. However, through all of the changes, the shaping, and possibly a nip here or a tuck there, our Father gently puts all of the pieces together to form a beautiful patchwork quilt tapestry of life that glorifies Him.

Yes, my friends, we are all like an old patchwork quilt. We may feel tattered and worn from time to time, but we have to remember that we are gently sewn together by the Master. He gently sews each quilting stitch in place. He holds us together in the palm of His hands, and though we may feel like we are going to fall apart, we only need remember that the Master formed us fearfully and wonderfully, and He will hold us together just like those hand sewn quilting stitches. If you are feeling like all of the pieces of your life are falling apart, go to the Master quilter. He will gently but surely put all the pieces back together again for your good and His glory.