A Time to Tear

A Time to Tear

For everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven.

A time to tear, and a time to mend

A time to be silent, and a time to speak.

Ecclesiastes 3:1,3

I am not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination.  I have tried, over many years, to learn how to sew well, but the ability just escapes me.  You would think it would be easy to sew a straight line, but it is not – at least not for me.

When the coronavirus pandemic swept over the world, and hospitals began to run out of essential protection equipment, a call went out for those who could sew to make face masks and protective gowns.  One of my friends at Beulah called to ask if I would be willing to take a mask kit from Joanne Fabrics that would make ten face coverings for a local nursing home.  I cheerfully said, “Sure!”

It took me a little over a week to wreak havoc on that entire kit.  If there was a mistake to be made at any step, I made every single one of them.  Finally, I sat down on the couch with my pile of unrecognizable face coverings and my trusty seam ripper and proceeded to tear out the stitches in order to start over again.

Sometimes God needs to open the fabric of our lives and tear out a few stitches with the seam ripper of His love - re-pinning, re-purposing, re-directing us back to the pattern He has set.  As our Creator, He knows exactly how to stitch us together into a perfect whole.

*

Into my heart, into my heart,

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

Come in today, come in to stay,

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

Out of my heart, out of my heart,

Shine out of my heart, Lord Jesus.

Shine out today, shine out always,

Shine out of my heart, Lord Jesus.

The Faith We Sing, No. 2160