When We Can’t See the Pattern

My life is but a weaving between my God and me. I do not choose the colors; He worketh steadily. Oftimes 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 explain the reason why The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver’s hand As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

—Anonymous

The Five-Minute Friday writing prompt is PATTERN, and I remembered this poem which I first read in Corrie Ten Boom’s book, Tramp for the Lord.

Last year, 2023, was a gold and silver year for me. God wove blessings into my life—-special times with friends and family, exciting travel opportunities, and the beginnings of new ventures. I embraced the beautiful new pattern God was weaving.

But sometime around mid-December, I started noticing some dark threads.

Disappointment.

Discouragement.

Depression.

I want to take a seam-ripper and pick those threads out. They don’t belong in the pattern I envision.  I look for more of the gold and silver threads and try in vain to incorporate them into the pattern. I do what I can, but some things are beyond my control.

So I wait.

And I trust.

And I obey the directions God has given me for today.

Today, I desperately want to peek at the finished product and see how God will complete the pattern. I want to know the purpose for these dark threads. I want to know God’s plan in advance and let God know whether I approve of it. But He is God, and I am not.

Yet I have hope that, in the end, God will display His handiwork and reveal a beautiful pattern in my life.

I believe God will once again add bright colors to His masterpiece.

And I put my faith in the skillful Weaver

“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

(Romans 8:24b-25 ESV)

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

Images courtesy of Robert Linder and Hector J. Rivas on Unsplash.