Seam-ripping

Hi friends! Happy Tuesday. How'd you survive that Monday this week? We have three weeks of summer left, and I'm trying to squeeze in as much time as I can being present with my little people. I'm not even going to face the sadness I know I'll feel - like I do every year - when they have to go back.

So here's what's going on in my world right this minute. I just seam-ripped a whole sewing project that I attempted last night. I hate seam-ripping.

I'm not very good at sewing, but I try. I can manage certain things, and the things I can't...well, I blame it on the machine. Last night, I tried to sew a large blanket, not realizing that one of the fabrics was stretchy. By the time I stitched down the entire first side, I had about 6 inches extra of the stretchy one! Darn! So I turned the corner, deciding in my mind that the blanket would be fine if I just kept going. I guess I was hearing Tim Gunn in my head, and his whole "Make it work!" mantra. I could always cut off the extra later anyway, before I turned it. What a plan.

By the time I was sewing down the home stretch on the last side, I had to face the fact that it was an official disaster. I plopped the blanket on my chair, exhausted and annoyed, and put off the seam-ripping until the next night.

And who knew! Tonight, I figured it out. I fixed it, and successfully finished the blanket.

Then I sat myself down on the couch to write a little something, and thought of part of the Sunday message at church. Our pastor mentioned this verse, and I so needed the reminder:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6  

The dots connected immediately in my mind. I am so like the messed up blanket. The events, hurts, and disasters of my life stitch me up in ways that just don't follow God's pattern for me. He has to rip those messy seams open, and continue HIS good work, ever so gently stitching me back together according to His ideas for me. He undoes the bad work, and replaces it with good work.

But seam-ripping is never fun. I have been feeling and witnessing and experiencing it in and around me the last few days. And I am reminded that God is in the business of repairing and reversing damage. He is always ripping out old broken threads that tie us down in the wrong ways. And the best promise is that He will continue His good work in me until my days are done. Oh, thank you Jesus that you are never tired of this messy project! You never plop me down on your workbench, and put me off until later, exhausted and annoyed. You carefully, patiently hold me and make me more beautiful with every stitch.

Friends, I hope you feel deep down in your soul this morning that if you know Him personally, Jesus is relentlessly creating a good work in you. He never tires of it, and He does all His work full of love and compassion. And He always will. Isn't that a promise you need today? I do.

Philippians 1:6 is so encouraging to me. As rough as life can be, one day this good work will be completed. And perfect. That sounds fun.

{linking up today with my girls, Amy & Jami. i like the sound of that.}