A thing of beauty

We look at life from the back side of the tapestry. And most of the time, what we see is loose threads, tangled knots and the like. But occasionally, God's light shines through the tapestry, and we get a glimpse of the larger design with God weaving together the darks and lights of existence. (John Piper)

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:13-16 NLT)

Too often we complain about what God must be doing in our lives, doubting good will ever come from whatever it is we are facing. That 'glimpse' at what the finished work will look like is priceless, isn't it? When God reveals something to you that you didn't see before, knowing full-well that he is the one doing whatever it is that is being accomplished, you revel in it and celebrate his goodness. The workmanship of God is priceless - the revelation of his work may be a little slow at times, but that doesn't mean he isn't at work!

As Piper said, the loose threads and tangled knots are what we see - God sees something of great beauty. Don't ever forget that God says will bring beauty from ashes! The thing we see as tattered, and incomplete is really a thing of beauty he is creating. The 'tapestry' of our lives may not be complete, yet his hands have never stopped working those threads and knots! He sees what we cannot - he beholds the beauty in the broken places. 

What is he producing as he works? Goodness, kindness, gentleness, love, joy, peace - the fruit of his Spirit resident within us. Sometimes we find the way we used to respond to a life event is different now. What changed? We did! His Spirit within brought about the change. We respond differently because his fruit is being woven into our character. There is a new way of looking at life - even if all we see are the lose threads and tangled knots - we have a different perspective because he is teaching us to see those events through his eyes.

God isn't finished with your tapestry. He has a thing of beauty in mind - his hands are at work creating what only he can produce. We might think the 'warp' and 'weave' of our tapestry is kind of haphazard and without purpose but let me assure you that every pass of his hand over those threads is producing something we had no idea was even possible from our lives. We might complain that the knots still remain, and we feel a little 'incomplete', but the beauty is just on the other side of all those knots and tangled threads, my friend! Just sayin!