Having An Eye

Psalm 59:17 – O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God. (NIV)

I decided to crochet small blankets and donate them to the Women and Children's Crisis Centre. I intended to make them by doing granny squares, as I knew the pattern off by heart. Pastel wool and crochet hook in hand, I began to make squares. I placed each completed coloured square into a shoe box. I found that I could complete five or six squares in an evening.

Once I had what I felt was enough squares to complete a baby blanket, I began the process of deciding on a pattern. I cleared off the dining room table and placed the squares neatly stacked on it. I had five colours and over fifty squares before me. I began to lay them out into a pattern, but as I moved the squares around, it soon became apparent that it was not going to be as easy as I had thought. My neat piles were now spread all over the table, no closer to a pattern. I was discouraged, and as I began to gather the squares back up, I thought, I will try this another day. However, I also knew that if I did gather them up then, I probably would not have continued.

Then came the prompting to call our son up from the basement, to come and give me a hand. I told him what I had been attempting to do. He gathered the squares back into piles by colour. After he'd asked me how big a blanket I wanted to make, he began to lay half of the squares out to the right size, and then arranged them to make a pattern. In no time, we had put half the squares in place, and we could see a pattern that would work. He had an eye for a design, and he built the final product by creating a small part first.

In that moment, I felt God pointing out to me some patterns that had developed in my own life. In the past when I had become discouraged, I would carelessly toss things aside or walk away from people and events. Here again, I had become discouraged and was ready to throw in the towel on my craft.

Psalm 139:15b-16 – When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (NIV)

Just as my son and I together were able to achieve a pattern, Jesus works the same way. When we accept Him into our lives, He doesn't move in and change everything at once. He works slowly as we yield ourselves to His lordship. Over time, He creates a wonderful design in our lives, a design that He had already decided upon long before we were born. Sometimes, the process of moving things around can be painful and disruptive, but the end result is beauty and harmony. Let's trust Him to make all the right changes!

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the people whom You give us who have eyes to help us to see and who guide us along the way. We stand in awe at the wonders of Your work, and we are amazed that we are part of Your grand design. Help us never to lose sight of all that You have for us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Julie Bowles