Finding Our True Colors in a Tapestry

Dear Reader:

When it comes to trying to find the answers to why bad things happen to good people…the metaphor of a tapestry perhaps best addresses it…at least for me…a visual learner.

Having had  amazing opportunities to visit some European castles in my lifetime…I have always been fascinated by wall tapestries…many of which the king or queen commissioned many seam tresses to do over a very long period of time in history.

Some depict famous battles or garden scenes or royal artifacts…and they are breath-taking! Yet if we had Superman vision and could look behind the beautiful tapestry we see in front of us…it would look quite different from behind. (* see title photo)

Brian Pusateri-founder of Broken Door Ministries offers this interesting analogy that I found eye-opening and also, humanly understandable… in respect to different perspectives of man from our Creator’s tapestries made uniquely for each of us.

“I want to offer an analogy. It will not answer the question of why, but it may cause us to look at life from a different point of view. Rarely does someone ever see the back side of a tapestry hanging in a museum. If you could see it, you would see a mess. The artistic masterpiece with its fine details so clearly visible on the front, bears no resemblance to the knots, hanging threads, tangled stitches and random colors on the back. Clearly, a tapestry is only meant to be viewed from one side.

If your first view of a tapestry was from the back side, you might be inclined to criticize the artist. Maybe you would want to try to fix it somehow. Maybe you would want to snip off the dangling threads. Doing so would be a mistake. All those loose ends and hanging threads work together to give shape, meaning and structure to the front side.

Sadly, in life, we usually only see the backside of our life’s tapestry. When we experience hard times in life, we rarely recognize their value. We might even beg God to pull some of our loose threads. God knows that doing so might unravel the masterpiece He has planned on the other side. We must trust in God! We need to stop to recognize that our knots and loose threads, yes even the bad ones, form us into who we are.”……………………………………………………………………………………………….

This message is true in all our daily lives…especially the tough ones when no explanation seems to satisfy our confusion over bad things happening in it…we are limited in our vision whereas God sees the whole picture and how beautiful it is and how overjoyed we will feel when we finally get to see our own completed tapestry one day.

So until tomorrow….

LIFE IS BUT A WEAVING

My life is but a weaving

Between my God and me.

I cannot choose the colors

He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I the underside.

Not ‘til the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas

And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;

Nothing this truth can dim.

He gives the very best to those

Who leave the choice to Him.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Poet: Grant Colfax Tullar

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I never thought I would be using two words…Inauguration and vaccination on the same day…but these are challenging times we live in…and for me…both brought hope for healing.

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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2 Responses to Finding Our True Colors in a Tapestry

  1. Rachel Edwards says:

    ❤❤❤

  2. Becky Dingle says:

    Back at you!!!!!!!!!!!

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