This is what the world sees. Just look at those uniform stitches and clean lines and margins. If you run your palm over the fabric, its grain is smooth and even. It isn’t complete, but you can imagine the finished product. This will be my gift to my youngest grandchild on his first Christmas. It is a “labor of love.”
To the right is what I see as I stitch my way through the process. Kind of a mess, isn’t it? Some rows of threads are reinforced by back-stitching so the ends and beginnings of threads can be secured. The back side is bumpy; it is frayed in some places. There are knots where threads became tangled, and there is some overlapping of colors that bear evidence of mistakes.
When the ornament is finished, it will be backed in red brocade, and trimmed in a gold and white braided cord with my initials embroidered on the back. He will never see my mistakes. He will not be able to see the messy backside that makes the front appear “perfect.” And it will include my grandchild’s name across the top.
Just as needlework has an “outer” side and an “inner” side, we, too, have the side of ourselves that we present to others. We may appear “neat” and “clean” on the outside, but we’re all too aware of the knots of guilt and the anxieties that keep us tangled up and “strung out.” We know where we’ve made mistakes in the canvas of our lives. We have our bumps and frayed edges to deal with, but …
We are God’s masterpieces, and we bear his image. He sees us as the whole ornament, and that includes the times we got tangled up in the world; he knows where our bumps and frayed edges are, and he sees our attempts at covering our mistakes. He knows where we’ve missed stitches.
Our Master Designer knows we are not yet a “finished product.” We are still in the process of being transformed to his image, and that process includes the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are not left alone to work out life’s tangles and knots by ourselves. That same Spirit labors in love in us and for us so we can present ourselves to him as “perfectly flawed,” restored, forgiven, and “wonderfully made.”
(Copyright 2024, Lisa Wood)