Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Christopher's Quilt

Christopher is allowing me to mend his quilt. I don't particularly like this quilt. It came with him when he joined our family. We don't know it's history, but to me it represents his 'other woman', his birth mom. It's not a really nice quilt or particularly well made but he loves it. As a baby he chewed the corners right off and some of the patchwork has holes in it. He's let me patch the holes but never the corners. Not so long ago he brought me the quilt and asked me if I would fix the corners. I was stunned. It's been sitting in my sewing room in the mending basket for awhile and the other day I finally got to it to start working on it. It started teaching me a lesson, this ugly little quilt that I don't like. Christopher came to us with all kinds of problems, not put together too well, colors in funny places. He has lots of holes because of his birth family and the things that have gone on in his life that are completely out of his control. Little by little, as we love him, we're slowly, painfully slowly, patching up some of the holes in his spirit. There are parts that he hasn't allowed us to touch that one day he will trust us with. Slowly but surely, the quilt that is his spirit will take on a new look, it won't necessarily match any better, the underlying foundation will still be there and patching may not always look really good. But the quilt will hold together, it will be strengthened.

Isn't that how we come to Jesus? Full of holes, ugly colors, corners chewed off by life? We need Jesus to patch us up. The great thing is that His patchwork is perfect, his thread is strong and His needlework impeccable. What a glorious thing to be loved by such a wonderful master. What a privelege to be able to love such an amazing little boy and participate in his quilt.

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