Hooked

Right on schedule, three months almost to the day, my afghan is complete. After three months of prayer, I find that talking to God has given my relationship with Christ new vigor and direction. The afghan may be done, but now it's on to the next project, and I look forward more than ever to that ongoing conversation with my Savior. I'm hooked!

Mosaic

The triumph of recently finishing my last square was soon after replaced by the tediousness of sewing them all together. After having spent three months and 50-60 hours in their creation, I thought facetiously to myself, this is going to take forever. Square by square, I began stitching rows into strips, and strips together. Slowly, the segments began to form a whole.

My life as an adult has been divided. School (as was), home, work, church - sometimes they seem like separate worlds in themselves. I feel like a different person in each of them - not better or worse, just different - and not fully known by any of them. There are few people who bridge multiple segments of my life, and thus few who can get a full picture of who I really am. When my heart cries out to be known, only God is there, holding my life together, seeing the whole, and comforting intimately.

Psalm 139:1, 4 "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord."

Colorful Histories

The big day finally arrived. Square #181 came quietly into being with a sense of finality. It joined its counterparts, which, having been released from their neatly organized ziploc bags, formed a big pile on the floor. One by one, I laid them out in a pattern, colors jumping out at me, each with their own story to tell. The variegated blue and brown was from my very first scarf, the blues and greens of my previous afghans were a credit to their ancestors, and the purple was reminiscent of the set of grape cluster hotpads I made for my aunt. All their colorful histories had become a new, present story.

The past is part of who we become; it is to be remembered and learned from. The memories and experiences of yesterday are the foundation upon which today is built, orchestrated by the omniscient master planner to teach us and mold us.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

On Behalf Of

I felt singularly uninspired in prayer as I worked on my square quota. It had been an energy sapping day, and I felt empty, apathetic as I indecisively picked out some colors. I tried to focus, tried to pick a subject, tried to think meaningfully, tried to remember prayer requests, but there was nothing. Perhaps trying was the problem.

In the end, I could only rest on the work of another, One whose thoughts are higher than my thoughts, One who works tirelessly on my behalf. Tonight, His intercession sufficed.

Romans 8:26-27 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."