“How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that.” (Psalm 139:14a NIRV)

As I have written before, I am not a quilter, but I can derive pleasure by proxy as I admire the finished products of expert quilters. As I was admiring a favourite quilt the other day, I began thinking of ways that quilts and quilting can serve as an analogy for everyday life.

Snippets of fabric are carefully pieced together to create a quilt, resulting in a completed work of art. The varying colours and shapes of these bits and pieces form a kaleidoscope of patterns. Even if the quilter follows a specific pattern, a quilt is unique with its own special design. So it is with us. We each have a unique pattern to our life. Though we may share common traits with many around us, our heritage, nationality, time and place in history, and even our personality set us apart from all others.

Time-honoured quilt patterns may serve as descriptors of our lives. We may be colourful though refined, like Dresden Plate or Wedding Ring. We may be determined and steady like Texas Star. Our life’s path may meander a bit like Rail Fence or even Drunkard’s Path. The chaotic hodgepodge of the Crazy Quilt might define us. Varying light and dark tones, bright and dull colours may reveal seasons and stages of our life.

Fabrics from which quilts are fashioned range from elegant silks and velvets to sturdy and utilitarian wool, to common, humble cotton. Our personalities and abilities exhibit the varying fabrics from which our lives are made.

A quilt consists of a quilt top, batting, and backing, and is finished with the binding around the edges. Every seam, point, or curve must be carefully executed to result in a smoothly unified pattern, even though all of the raw edges and finishing knots are hidden inside. The shape and pattern of our lives is visible to others around us, but God alone sees the sometimes raw, untidy interior of our lives.

Only when the final securing stitch is made, as we take our last breath, will the quilt of our life be completed. Perhaps, in eternity, we will be permitted to see the beauty and intricacy of our quilt that is now fully visible only to the eyes of our heavenly Father.

Let’s be thankful for whatever pattern, design, materials, and use God has chosen for us. Each of us has been created for a special purpose, and we are unique and wonderfully made.

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, You have designed us for Your own purpose, using specially chosen colours, fabrics, and patterns for the quilt of our lives. May we serve Your purpose so that others can see snatches of beauty as displayed through our lives. Amen.

Copyright © 2021, by Gail Lundquist <gail10833@gmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Beaverton, Oregon, USA

Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission