“The Dark Threads”

^{““For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."}

^{I Corinthians 13:12}

My activity in the last four years has considerably changed from my previous fast paced life in the ministry. But thankfully I have been able to do some things that I never had the time to do before. Cross-stitching is one of them. I truly enjoy making something out of strands of various colors of thread. One of my latest projects has been to make a cross-stitch baby blanket for each of my six grandchildren to pass down to their children. I have completed 4 and have 2 more to go. I love to see the finished product and the colors and how they worked together to make a beautiful

design. The strands of colored threads on their own don’t have any design or purpose. It all comes to life when the designer carefully puts everything together with a plan.

“But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

Isaiah 64:8

It's always so exciting to see something you're working on come to life as you near completion. I did a cross stitch for a dear childhood friend who was battling cancer. Unfortunately, she passed before I finished it, so I have it hanging on my wall as a reminder of her. What was so interesting about doing that piece was that there were a lot of dark threads in it and to look at the threads, you wouldn't think that it would turn out very beautiful with all the dark colors intertwined with the brighter ones. Truthfully if I were to pick out the colors for that particular piece, I probably would

not have picked some of them. And if you turned it around on the back, it looked like a tangled mess of threads. But as I finished the piece I could see where the dark pieces were what made it so beautiful. So much more beautiful than I could have imagined that it would with all the dark threads.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,

saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

Isn't that how it is with our lives? We go through life wanting those bright colors, but God has a way of working the dark colors into our lives also. Sometimes we don't understand or want them, but He has a design in mind for each of us. We may not see the beauty that those dark threads add to our finished design, but God does. Are the dark threads easy? No! They don’t make any sense. Are they painful sometimes? Yes, because God knows what we need in our lives better than we do ourselves.

“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:”

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Years ago, when we lost two sons to still birth, I vividly remember my dad coming to the house before we went to the cemetery for our first son, and he quoted this poem about God seeing the upper side while we only see underneath the design with all its messy threads and dark thread hanging. The confusion, the pain, the unanswered questions. I now have that tapestry on my wall in my office. Did you know that God started your design before you were born and each person has a

unique design only for you?

“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Psalm 139:13-14

But one day when we get to heaven, we will see the finished result of our design from the upper side, and it will be so beautiful because it was designed by God and for our good. We will see how all those dark threads that caused such pain and didn’t make sense, made His masterpiece into something unimaginable and more beautiful than we could ever have done if we had been in control. Every stitch will be in place, and we will see how every stitch mattered. Even the dark ones. Thank God for His work in our lives to bring about “something beautiful.”

The Weaver Poem

by Grant Colfax Tullar

My life is but a weaving

Between my God and me.

I cannot choose the colours

He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper,

And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas

And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand,

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned.

He knows, He loves, He cares;

Nothing this truth can dim.

He gives the very best to those

Who leave the choice to Him.