Life's Tapestry

Have you ever seen a tapestry hanging in a museum or grand manor home? Their intricacy and detail are exquisite. Many look like fine oil paintings instead of woven thread. 

For centuries these pieces of artwork were handcrafted on looms. Multiple vertical threads called warp, are attached to the top and bottom of the loom. They remain stable and unmoving, the backbone of the tapestry. Colored silk or wool horizontal threads called weft, are woven in and among the vertical warp threads at the moment they are needed to create the design the artist envisioned. Some areas of the tapestry require tiny bites of one color, while other sections require multiple rows of a specific color in order for the picture to form. Each piece is handcrafted and unique. No two are exactly alike.

Our lives can be compared to a tapestry. Each of us is unique and handcrafted by the Master Weaver. No two of us are the same. Everything we experience, feel, think, and do are unique to each individual. Woven over days and years, each of these things are worked into our life's tapestry as they come. 

During difficult times, our tapestry is woven with very dark thread. If the event was short-lived, fewer threads are incorporated into the overall pattern. Devastating, life-altering events create a larger, more pronounced, darkened area. The darkest threads may continue to be interspersed throughout the years of weaving as memories of a painful time recur, and that painful time is touched upon again.

Joyful, happy, grateful, celebrated times are woven in as bright, cheerful bursts of color. And there are occasional threads of gold. These threads were added during moments when we needed a special touch from Him. Times when His presence was not seen or felt, but His hand was there.

Tapestries varied in size, and just like them, our lives vary in length. Whether a few short weeks in a mother’s womb, or a life that spans over a century, when death comes their tapestry is complete. There is no unfinished business with God, no incomplete tapestry. He completes the work He begins. Each design, each life, is conceived and then accomplished according to His purpose.

In the midst of it all is God, the “warp” thread, holding the entirety of our lives together. He is the backbone of our tapestry, and He is interwoven throughout each moment we have breath. He is the Master Weaver and Creator. He knit us together as we were formed in our mother’s wombs, and He is the One constant presence throughout our lives.

We cannot see the finished pattern being created in our lives. We only see the backside of the tapestry. Knots and crossed threads that look messy, with no pattern or purpose. Only after death can we see the completed work--the beautiful front side our of our unique tapestry. In the end, we see that all the black threads--all of the pain, the sadness, the loss, the grief--have had their purpose. They make all of the good--the happy times, the joyful events, the healthy times, the triumphs and victories--stand out and shine more brightly. Those bright colors and events draw our eyes and our attention, with all of the darkness falling into the backdrop. If the sharp contrast did not exist, the beauty of the bright times would seem somewhat blah. 

When completed, these tapestries, whether dark or bright, infinitesimally detailed or covered in large swaths of singular color, reflect the woven image of a life lived.

The Master Artist is creating a masterpiece in your life. It will be a reflection of His care, His love and His heart. If you have not invited Him into your life, please do. All the messy tangles of your life can be re-woven, all the darkness become meaningful. Ask Him into your life--into your tapestry--today. He loves you.

(originally posted 6/16/20)