Psalm 80
I didn’t have the money or space to buy any of the handmade rugs being offered in this showroom in Fez, Morocco. Coming to the corner where I sat with a few friends, a salesman asked, “You don’t intend to buy anything?” I confirmed this as politely as I could. “Would you like to see how the women make the carpets?” he asked.
He brought us upstairs to an unoccupied loom at least eleven feet high and six feet across. The craftswoman had started in the leftmost bottom corner and was working her way up and to the right with her design. The salesman showed us how the warp threads are attached to the loom and demonstrated how to loop a 4-inch piece of yarn over one of these threads and slide it into place. He took the piece off again before showing us the wooden comb the craftswoman uses to permanently press the yarn into place.
“What happens if she makes a mistake?” one of my friends asked.
The man gestured to the portions of the loom still untouched. “She incorporates it into the design.”
Some mistakes can be undone, even if it takes immense work. Others are so deeply pressed into our lives that there’s no digging them out again; the only way forward is to incorporate the mistake into the overall story. Thankfully, our Creator works “all things…together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). God is always weaving grace and redemption into our lives, sometimes through hesitant confrontations that ultimately strengthen us. When life looks incoherent or flawed, pray Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved (v. 3).
Consider
What mistakes or sins are too entrenched in your life to be undone? How has God redeemed them by incorporating them into your story?
Pray
Great Maker, let your face shine, that we may be saved (v. 3). Redeem our mistakes by working them into the designs of our lives. Show us how to take part in your creative work. Amen.