Devotion: 1st Week of Advent –
Romans 15: 7-13
The Fabric of our Lives….
I
thought I’d like to speak to you this evening about the wondrous marvels to be
gleaned from a tablecloth. Not usually an exciting topic for an evening to discuss one’s laundry, but once
you stop to realize where it has been…if only it could talk!
I
want to share with you my grandmother’s linen tablecloth… a little worn and
repaired over time, but woven with such treasured memories… While washing and ironing the cloth a few
weeks ago, I
noticed a very minute soiled area on the cloth and fell into reminiscing. I know we all do this with a treasured memory
from childhood.
My Mom’s
recollections of her Mom’s tablecloth. A
gift to her on her wedding day, one representation of a celebration of a new
life together! As I was never fortunate
to have met her, this was Mom’s way of passing along our family heritage. The stories at times seemed endless but I can
remember her explanations vividly. The
small soiled area, just about here, a representation of a baptism of one of their
12 children…. and their subsequent marriages….and more baptisms! And
even calls to eternal life with the Lord.
The cloth has seen many generations and is truly the fabric of my life.. tangible proof of the peace,
love, joys and tears… all shared within a family. Upon it sat floral arrangements in
celebration of events; coffee and cakes for the guests were served upon it as
well.
Then
I got to thinking as I ironed the cloth of how similar it was to each and every
one of us. I realized we are God’s fabric.
God’s gift. We are all brought into this world as the
finest linen and velvets and satins. Would
you ever set the table with linen and sackcloth? Our Lord does! He blends all of His fabrics into a fine
blend. Here we are, as you can see,
seated among each other. I’d even go so
far as to say our family of faith is a “crazy quilt”…singly and unsupported we
are weak, but once together and bound, a significant force to be reckoned with!
How do we maintain the very fabric with which He has endowed us? Even upon us there is always an indication of
our spots…our sins… a blemish… a ZIT! We are not very different from the cloth I
hold in my hands.
Thinking
further, I thought,
Good Lord what must I have
done now to cause this ZIT to appear?
Had I offended someone today… had I not loved my neighbor as
myself? Had I not tried to follow in the
Lord’s way? All of this…and more! Some
of the blemishes are visible; many lie deep beneath our skin… sins hidden from
the society in which we live
Just how deep into the fibers are
they hidden?
How do we set about in removing
the many stains accumulated over the years?
How do we restore this fabric as
God would have us do?
.
First
of all, we have to determine from what cloth we are made. Has
the fabric of our lives been reduced to sackcloth? Are we chintz or denim? Are
we made of the finest linens and lame’s…what indeed have we become? The
truth….we are whatever the fabric He has chosen for us, but because of our
neglect we are broken. How do we now go about refreshing and repairing the
broken fibers? How do we set about
renewing that with which we have been endowed?
Do you think “a little dab’ll do ya” is sufficient? OR… I’ll get back to
that at another time? It takes an act of courage to take the scraps
life provides and to wrestle chaos into order and turning it into something
useful and beautiful, into its true value known only to the heart of God. It is always possible to transform the fabric
of your life even amidst all obstacles placed before you..
How
blessed we are here at Holy Trinity to know the difference! We are blessed in our family of faith with
pastors who lovingly tend their sheep and continually remind us we have but to
hear! They provide us with the means of
His Grace and His abundant love, and, good or bad, they never fail to remind us
to seek and ye shall find….to them I submit appreciation and gratitude.
Our
Lord sees deeper than the superficial appearances we present to each other. He
digs deeply into those very fibers. He
has the ultimate cleaner of them all!
One problem: you can’t find it bottled
on the shelves at the local supermarket.
God
sees our blemishes and washes them clean in his forgiveness. WE are His fabric, made of whole cloth, renewed constantly
with his forgiving grace. He blesses us
in our births and baptisms… he blesses us in our marriages and celebrations of
life in Him. Most of all He is there woven
into the fabric of our very lives as we follow Psalm 23, into His Kingdom. With His steadfast love His promises are
forever.
I
truly believe He has preserved this tablecloth for me….so I might one
day recall it has been
preserved to remind me He is there and part of my daily life.
What fabric do you think he has chosen for you? My
fabric is not diminished, though I have neglected it. It needs only the continual refreshment only God
has secured for me with his cleansing love.
Personally, I think I’m a notch above sackcloth… I have so far to go to
be acceptable in His eyes… to be the finest linen as I can be.
June M. Gregory