Do Over

So, I am making a large rug for my living room by stitching together several smaller ones. I will tell about this project in another post...but right now, I want to talk about something else. I stitched together 9 rugs. It has been time consuming and a bit laborious-not in a bad way, but it has taken time. Yesterday, when I had finally knotted the stitch on the last one, I was so very excited-until I opened up my fold and realized that I had stitched the very last one on backwards. All my knot work and loose threads were showing on the face of my rug. My first thought after the initially disappointing realization was "I wonder if it will look bad if I just leave it like that." I flipped the rug back and forth, squinting a little, tucking in knots and threads, trying to make the obvious defect seem "not quite so bad." I finally decided that the best thing to do, indeed what must be done was to unstitch that last rug and sew it back properly. I was less than eager as I sat down today with my scissors to undo my previous work. But as I worked two things became clear to me...how often our spiritual lives are just like this. It is so very important what we do in a moment. I am a firm believer in Grace. I cling to the love and mercy of my Abba in heaven. I know that He understands me and He forgives and cleanses away my mistakes, my sins. But I think it can become easy to mistake grace for no consequence. But there is always a consequence...it's physics. And though we can always ask for forgiveness (and of course, we are going to need to in life), there is something to be said for not having to. It is so much better to hold our tongue and keep our peace than to go back and apologize for words or deeds that can't be taken back. The time and materials I used yesterday are gone and I cannot recall them. We should strive to do things the right way the first time and thank YHVH for grace when we do not. And the second thing I realized was how instant and natural the desire to cover over a mistake instead of rectifying it. How soon do we learn this? What makes us so...lazy? I am glad I have decided to fix my mistake. Even if no one else noticed it, I would always have known it was there and leaving it would have cheapened all my other labor...the hundreds of correct stitches I made. It is not fun to go back and try to fix a problem you have made. But acknowledgement and effort bring a freshening and a maturity that is really impossible to come by any other way. Long one short; life, time, materials, relationships-be careful with them. Stay open and have the humility and the strength to try to ammend your mistakes. I think remembering these two things will make for a much sweeter life. Definitly better looking, homemade rugs!