Another Daily Prompt from the summer:
When I was ten, I was obsessed with all things old-fashioned. In my mind, if women did it in the 18th century, then I wanted to as well. And so, one night on the back porch, I begged my mom to teach me how to crochet. How I got it in my head that women sat by the fire crocheting blankets and scarves through the Revolutionary War, I'll never know, but as I said, I was a girl obsessed. Ten years later, I'm still honing my crocheting skill, but I've found that there is a valuable lesson to be learned from the craft--it's okay to go back and fix things.
We live in a culture where success is measured in how quickly things get done--papers, work reports, ATM stops all follow the "quicker the better" mentality. One example: blessed with the ability to make total nonsense sound intellectual and cursed with the bug of procrastination, I've found that I can write my average college paper in about two hours without any drafts. It's quick, it's done, and it's not quite up to where it could be, but perfectly acceptable to 95% of professors nonetheless. For years, my papers have been flawed but quick and my crocheted items have been lumpy and asymmetrical. It wasn't until last night when I unraveled an entire row of the blanket I've been working on that I realized that it's okay to take your time. It's okay to go back and fix things--in crocheting, in papers, and in relationships.
For some reason or another, we all have relationships that have gone awry--with our friends, our family members, and also with God. Somewhere along the line we've dropped a stitch or tangled our yarn and we're too involved in the quest to be the perfect friend/family member/Christian that we've let it go. We've left the perfection for the pursuit. It's okay to go back and fix it. A friend will always accept an overdue helping hand. A sibling will always accept an apology. God will always listen when you pray, even if it's been awhile. It's okay to go back and fix things. So maybe my blanket will be done a bit later than planned, but it will be more beautiful than I ever dreamed if I just take the time to go back and fix its problems. I imagine that's what women in the Revolutionary War did. I think they even had a mantra for it, "Haste makes waste."
25 September 2007
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2 comments:
and what if you have the power, but not the will to fix things? Will God somehow look upon you as unworthy of His love and future guidance?
B,
The cold hard truth is that none of us are really worthy of God's love and future guidance...we've done nothing to deserve it. I don't know a person on this earth who actually follows everything it says in the Bible (and if they don't, immediately atone for it). The comfort is that He gives it anyways (Galatians 2:16b).
As far as having the power but not the will, it takes time for the will to come in some situations, especially extremely hurtful ones. Oftentimes, the first step to that is forgiveness--of ourselves, of another person, of God, of whatever. I've heard that forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling, and I can attest to that. There are some wounds that we will never feel like forgiving, but at some point we have to or risk sinking into bitterness.
What I feel like you should know is that God loves you no matter what you do or don't do. As people of faith, we're obligated to pass that love on by loving others--including the ones we don't want to.
Many blessings to you.
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