Swatches

It appears we have another two-for-one day! (I suggest you don't get too used to it.)

For those who tuned in to the Monday night service via the webcast from the Temple in Independence, you might have expected the word for today to be "weaving." After all, the theme that ran through that service had to do with the Master Weaver weaving our lives together; a theme I can and do appreciate.

When we entered the sanctuary, however, we were each handed a triangle of cloth, which we would later be invited to examine as a symbol for the fabric of our lives. As we each struggled to see how this might have meaning, it was the person seated next to me that made the observation that he “just didn’t relate to a piece of cloth with little pink flowers on it!” While I was personally spared the little pink flowers, I confess that the pattern on my cloth did not mean much to me either, at least at first.

As I examined this little swatch of fabric, it occurred to me that it looked like something my grandmother might have sewn into one of her summer dresses many years ago. It also reminds me of some of the pieces sown into some of her quilts, which is what happened to the little pieces of cloth that were left over. Nothing went to waste. Each little piece of cloth was saved, stitched together with others, and then quilted into something that was really beautiful, useful, and highly to be prized.

Somehow, that is a simile I can relate to. Perhaps the little piece of cloth has something to say about life after all. No matter how small the piece or unusual the pattern, somehow there is a place in life’s great quilt for everyone. There are no exceptions.

You will readily recognize, I think, that this is a feminine image of God. There can be little doubt that a man would have thrown the little scraps away, or if large enough, used them as a rag to wipe the dirt off his hands! Thanks be to God, however, that in Her great love and wisdom, none of Her pieces are ever lost. Instead they are woven into the great pattern of God’s sacred quilt of love and grace.

Now that is truly an image of grace!

Posted by Carman