Looking up from below

If you have ever been in Sunday School with me, then you already know about this.  Just go ahead and  move on to the next blog, because you alreay know this illustration.  Won't hurt my feelings- I have already imparted my wisdom on you at some previous point in time.  :)

Did you ever do needlepoint?  Embroidery?  From the top, the finished product can be quite lovely.  Colors woven together, little by little, to make a scene from nature or of a house or a seaside picture.  You can truly do most anyting you can imagine on fabric with the right amount of talent and thread.  That is from the top...

From the bottom, though, it looks very different.  Same colors, same area on the  fabric, but it doesn't look the same at all.   The areas where the thread is knotted off or where the thread changed color are not as pretty.  If we only looked at the bottom, no one would appreciate needlepoint or embroidery.  It would be backwards, disjointed, and hard to understand.  Actually...that does sound a little bit like our lives at times, doesn't it?

God sees things differently than we do.  From His vantage point, our lives have order, reasoning, and a design.  From our view, however, things seem pretty messed up sometimes.  When things like death, illness,  and disappointments begin to weigh on us, we cannot understand why.  In those areas where our "thread colors change", there is a transition that isn't smooth.  This could be a tragedy, a change in job, a move...anything that makes life stop seeing normal and changes completely.  Many times we get bogged down in the details of why something happened, or how it happened.  It is easier to focus on those things, than to face the reality that life doesn't seem fair sometimes and that we don't want bad things to happen in our lives.   The only question to ask is this:  "Do you trust God?".  Do you trust the God of the universe to handle the details of your life?  From the top or from the bottom, God has a reason for all of those bad things, uncomfortable things, or impossible to explain things.  He has a reason for 'changing our thread color' through a loss or a change.  He is using all of these things to form the more complete picture visible from the top.  His plan, His design, His choice.  Our response to these things is what the world will see.    How we are viewed by others will determine if Matthew 5:16 will be true in our lives our not.  "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  

God, give me eyes to imagine the view from the top- Your view of my life.  Help me to be patient when I don't understand.  Help me to be woven into the lives of others in such a way that You are glorified.  Help me not to get bogged down in the details that I see from 'down here' and to understand that You are in control.  

Be blessed....