Hanging by a Thread...

Hanging by a Thread

For me, my favorite time to talk to God is early in the morning before my mind is overcrowded with the events of the day. In my lengthy drive to work I prepare for the day by focusing and spending time with God. I have found if I listen, He talks back to me. I think sometimes we are so busy doing the talking that we fail to hear Him. Last week as I was driving, I began to tell God all my troubles and worries. I eventually got around to telling Him I felt like I was hanging on by a thread. To me that would show Him just how very serious I was. This would prove to him that I was desperate for a helping hand. I thought He would see how flimsy the thread was and get rid of it because it was basically useless. But before I could continue to feel sorry for myself, He spoke. Without the slightest hesitation His voice was firm and to the point. He said, "That is the exact thread I am looking for." I was a little shocked because this is not what I expected Him to say. He continued on to tell me, "That is the thread I need to use in your tapestry." In my mind I saw a tapestry that hangs on the wall at a local Chinese restaurant. Although it isn't a favorite of mine I have always admired it because of the work and detail it displays. It must have taken so many hours to complete.







For days, I thought about the words from God. I mentioned it to several people but didn't get much of a response. I even put it on facebook and got some responses. However it was so real to me that I just couldn't get away from it. I woke up with it on my mind. I thought about it throughout the day. I did find that it was an amazing thought. Only God could take what seemed to be a desperate jester and turn into something of beauty. I thought about how many times I had found a stray thread on my clothes or on someone else's. I not only would remove the thread from myself but I have picked it off of others as well. I would then carelessly and without thought drop in to the floor. Was that what God was wanting me to see, that threads that seem to have no purpose could serve a purpose? But that didn't satisfy God's words that were burning deep inside of me. I thought about the different people in my life. Many or most people in my life are Christians but I thought of the ones that aren't. Was that what God wanted me to see, that my life intertwined with all types and different color threads? Perhaps that it took all kinds of threads to make up a picture? There just had to be a bigger picture to see, that is why I couldn't get away from His words.







Days later I told God how wonderful the thought was but I felt I was still missing the greatest lesson. And once again He brought the words from my heart and put them back in my head to dwell upon and ponder. Sometimes I think God talks to us and we are so blown away by what He has to say that we miss what He is really trying to show us. So I set out to find the deeper meaning in the thread I had been hanging from. The word, "tapestry" kept coming back to me. To be honest I really don't like tapestry work at all. I would think that had to be one of the most boring things to do. For some reason I don't even like the word tapestry. In fact when I first told the story I didn't say tapestry but used the word, "picture." Tapestry sounds like an old person's thing. But now that seemed to be the word that was standing out to me. Tapestry, just what did I know about tapestry? Well, the first thing, well the only thing that came to my mind was an old cassette tape I used to have by Carole King entitled, "Tapestry." Although she had never been my favorite I knew the album was huge and I did like some of the songs from it. But why would God be trying to show me an old album from the 1970's?







Then I looked deeper at the work it takes to make a tapestry a work of art. First I learned that a tapestry is a form of woven work. Already I realized this was going to be what I was supposed to learn. Because the word woven jumped off the page and pinged my heart. In tapestry work as with cloth weaving, two threads are used, again a ping at my heart. Wow, was this it God? You are one thread and I am the other and we are woven together? But then I read on, cloth weaving and tapestry work differs. In cloth weaving you see both threads but in tapestry work you only see the top thread. Then my heart gave way as the pings engulfed it. The truth in what God wanted me to see was so powerful. In tapestry weaving the threads are discontinuous but held together by the thread that runs unseen beneath the work of art. I looked up the meaning for the word, "discontinuous." It means, "marked by breaks or interruptions; intermittent; unconnected elements; being without order or coherent form." By now my heart was racing, the thoughts flooded my mind and I visualized my tapestry. Although I had many, many breaks and interruptions God was the thread beneath me that was holding me together. The article went on to read, that the artist interlaces each color and thread back and forth in order to form a small pattern or design. And there it was. The thread that I had been barely hanging from became a thread in my tapestry. God took it as I gave it to Him and he began to weave His powerful thread beneath it. Although it seemed small and useless to me, He took and placed it right where He wanted it.







When will my tapestry work be complete? When will I know the big picture? I thought about that for a few minutes and then I realized there will be a day I stand back and look at it but it will not be here on this earth for on earth it will be a continuous work. But there is coming a day all when all the things we don't understand here will make sense. All the stops and starts, all the heartbreaks, all the sorrows, and all the ups and downs will come together to form the most beautiful tapestry one could ever imagine. All the loose threads we had will be held together by the thread beneath ours. On that day, as I stand beside my God, I will look upon a thing of pure beauty. A true work of art, then I will be able to see how all the small works joined together to form the big picture, the big tapestry.

Brenda Hall

1/22/2011