The past week has been very busy. I am behind on everything and trying to catch up before the end of next week when we go on our first camping trip of the year. The first trip is always more time consuming to prepare for since everything has to be replaced in the trailer, the water tank sanitized, the weatherizing fluids removed, plus the usual getting ready procedures. Sometimes I just pack everything in and straighten it out once we arrive at the campsite and I think that might happen this time!
I must finish the mural painting this weekend. The wood letters and missionary information must be finished by next Wednesday so I can totally finish installing them on next Thursday. I thought I would have extra time this week but I don't so that means go into high gear over the weekend. I will have a few days if there are any little things to touch up but I want to be done before we leave for camping because someone will be using our trailer for the upcoming Bible Conference and I want it to be nice and clean and ready and that can't be done until we are back from our trip.
So, I missed the knitting group this past Monday. I wanted to go but sometimes you just have to take care of necessary things! Seems like everyone in our family has been sick this past week, myself included and that always throws a delay into things. But, there is always next time!
I have been working on a quilt for our guest room that will match the red, white and blue decorating. I am making the top in 3 panels, hand quilting each panel and then setting them together. Then I will piece the sides, quilt and attach them. It will look pretty good when done, I think, but there were a few errors that I could not correct. To hide them I am doing small designs with machine embroidery (like an eagle in flight or stars, etc.)and that is really adding to the quilt. Sometimes mistakes end up making things more interesting in the long run, or rather the correcting of the mistakes.
That reminds me of something else that came to mind last week. The missions mural I am working on is of a world map. The map was projected on the wall so the outlines of all the countries could be traced for painting. Because of the lighting in the church auditorium, the projection was not clear in some spots and could not be focused enough for a clear tracing. So some of the areas had to be hand drawn using a reference map and Europe soon became a big mess of redrawn lines and erasure smears because we just couldn't seem to get it right. Finally, it became so bad that I painted it out with white paint so there would be a clean section on which to start over. It looked like a big weather map with white clouds painted over all of Europe! Once the paint was dry the countries were redraw in their proper places. The mistakes are still there but can't be seen because they were blotted out with white paint. The new lines are drawn and ready to be filled in with paint so they represent the countries correctly.
What came to mind was this: the map is like my life, a big patchwork of feelings, experiences and the like. Sometimes sin can cause an area of my life to become all confused and loose its shape and focus. When I try to fix those areas myself, it only gets worse and worse until there is no longer any definition and the lines all cross and smear into one another until it is hopeless to determine what is supposed to be, everything is confused.
When I realize the state I have gotten myself into I ask for help to straighten it out. God "paints out" the messed up area so that it can't been seen anymore and then he redraws the outlines with a nice clean pencil with no smears or erasures. Then it is my job to stay in the lines when I paint in the colors. The final result is very pleasing. Just like the mural, all the paint is in the lines and nothing shows through that shouldn't. Everything is clean and easy to understand and the project was worth the effort.
There are always flaws in every project, just like there are flaws in me. In the case of my projects, the flaws are caused by the CREATOR - ME. In the case of God's project (me), the flaws are in the CREATION - ME. I refuse to stop trying, in either case. I hope that when all the projects are finished that they are worth the effort.
My memory work for right now is:
James 1:4-5 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
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