 |
|
|
“Ouch!” My husband squeals, bolting off the couch.
“Oh no,” I sigh, dashing to his rescue. Removing an embroidery needle from his trousers, I apologize. “Sorry dear. Should have been more careful.”
I see a lecture coming from his annoyed “#869 hazel brown” eyes and realize he’s married to an addict.
Yep, I confess. I am an addict, powerless over needles. Only they’re knitting, quilting, and embroidery needles (not to mention DMC embroidery floss.)
At a party last night I almost blurted out I love your new “#959 sea green” carpet. Then going home we took “exit 310” and I thought, get off at “black”. At church last week the pastor says, “Turn to hymn #321, and I pictured “Christmas red”. I suppose when every number suggests a DMC embroidery floss color it’s time to check into a 12-step SA (“Stitchers’ Anonymous”) program and get “clean.”
But before I commit to any program, think I’ll take a stroll through my house. Just for the memories…
My tour begins in the foyer with my crewel embroidery of an old red farmhouse. I began this project twelve years ago while praying for my father who was dying of pneumonia. Finishing it after he died was therapy for my grieving heart. As I did the final backstitching, I thought of praying friends who held my hands during a tough time. Just as the backstitching, the prayers of others also reinforced my faith of an afterlife and the assurance that I’d see Dad again.
I then turn to the “Old Rugged Cross” cross-stitch that hangs on the fireplace mantle and remember how I started it when I was praying for a troubled loved one. With this project I discovered the of secret of gridding. A technique used to divide fabric into 10 x 10 sections matching a cross-stitch chart, gridding helps me keep my place. Before gridding, I’d never finished even the simplest charts as I always got lost and never finished. Just as gridding guided my way through a large project, prayer guided my lost loved one back to the “old rugged cross.”
It’s the same with my Christian walk. If I insist, “I will never fail for the rest of my life”, I’m fooling myself. Being human, I wil sin; I will fall down. But if I follow Christ “one day at a time” I can do it. And if I do mess up, I can easily get back on track before I create a larger mess and have to rip out all my “stitching,” a nightmare known to us compulsive stitchers as frogging (“rip it, rip it”).
As my gaze moves to the log cabin picture in the den, I praise God that I still have my mom. It was ten years ago when I started this needlework project. I stitched most of it sitting by my Mom’s bedside as she battled ovarian cancer. Thankfully, after six chemotherapy treatments, she survived and is still cancer free. As I stitched I thought about how I needed to stretch the canvas when it was finished. This makes me think about how my mom’s ordeal also stretched my faith as I saw God’s intervention.
The knitted rose colored afghan draped over my rocker brings me back to the fall of 1999 when I turned fifty. Alone in a strange new town, I took up my knitting needles that dreary October evening. I finished it only because I finally broke down and signed up for a knitting class after trying (and failing) to teach myself. When I do it the right way (God’s way) I do finish the race just as I finished the afghan. But when I do it my way I give up and don’t finish.
I end my tour in the guest bedroom where my first quilt, a New England lighthouse, covers a bed. Started the end of September, 2001, it helped me heal from the trauma of 9/11. Just as batting is sandwiched between the front and the backing, so should be my approach to those in need of Godly correction. First, affirm with a positive (the front of the quilt), then the batting (the meat), and finally, reaffirm with more positive encouragement. Then quilt together in love.
Am I addicted?
Maybe so, but happily (and gratefully) so. Nope, I’m not ready for a 12-step program…
But I am thankful (and ready) for more of God’s lessons, his precious “needle nuggets” along the way.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
|
|
|
