Life is like a tapestry. Each of the threads in our tapestry are like an individual lessons that we learn, experiences we go through, relationships that we form. In the beginning, we were made to be beautifully perfect carpets, but because of the fall, we've had some threads woven in that aren't supposed to be there. Grief, abuse, pride, anger, hunger, loneliness, fear....the list goes on.

When realize we're messed up, we try to re-weave our tapestry, to horrible conclusions. Some of us will then try to fix what they messed up causing further problems; others will realize they can't fix it and give it to the One who wove it together in the first place. The Great Weaver then takes the mass of threads that have seemed to get themselves all knotted together and proceeds to painstakingly unravel the mess we created and gently restores the tapestry to its intended state of beauty.

Sometimes we watch how He does it and try to fix a spot just like He did, only it doesn't work out exactly as it should. But because of our pride (a thread that we haven't let Him pull out yet), we won't admit that we missed a few stiches and deny Him the right to re-weave it. It isn't until we slowly let Him have exclusive rights to fix it that the Weaver can go back to those stitches and pull them out again to be re-woven correctly. These stitches can be things we mis-learn as children from our parents or from our peers or from even our churches; fundamental ideas of love, humility, kindness, theology, faith, belief, trust, truth...all are needed threads in our tapestry, but we and others twist in some false ideas that marr the tapestry with shadow or leave out necessary bits of color that leave something missing in the brilliance of the design.

These are the stiches that hurt the most when they are pulled. Sometimes it seems as if the Weaver is pulling out the important cross stiches that hold the entire tapestry together, and we wonder if we won't end up as a pile of yarn and thread that has no meaning whatsoever. We question the skill of the Weaver, and wonder if the Weaver knew what He was doing when the thread was woven, forgetting how we (or other people) were the ones to mis-weave it in the first place. But as the pain of the first pulled threads subsides, we listen to the Weaver explain that what we had been taught was tainted by humanity, and He needed to pull the thread out to wash it with His love and truth before putting it back in it's correct place. And it somehow makes us fall more in love with Him and we can dare to ask Him to continue pulling and re-weaving.