I have several quilts and woven tapestry throws that I hope to pass on to my daughters one day. In the meantime I keep some of them displayed around our home on quilt racks, beds, and couches.

Recently, I noticed a food stain on one of the tapestries throws that I keep on our living room couch, so I threw it in the washer along with a load of white towels. Big mistake. I forgot to set the water temperature to cold. My red and white tapestry throw became my red and pink tapestry throw. My white towels came out light pink as well. The towels were not a big deal but my tapestry throw was ruined. I re-washed it in cold water and it helped it a bit but not enough.

So I went on an eBay search to replace it using the key words, red, white, and tapestry. While searching through endless photos on eBay, the poem, “My Life is but a Weaving” by Corrie ten Boom came to mind:

My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times 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 reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.

#CorrieTenBoom

Corrie reminds us that while the underside of a tapestry appears to be a knotted and frayed mess of disconnected threads, the finished product is a beautiful weaving which is revealed on the topside. It’s the events in our life which we consider the “messy” or “dark” things, that are actually instruments of God’s providential care for us that leads to His will being done in our life.

I like the way that Alistair Begg explains it:

“Satan often wants us to stay focused on such seemingly jumbled and discouraging circumstances, doubting God and His good provision. We so easily forget that what appears to be a mess is just the back view of the tapestry God is weaving. One day, though, when we get the chance to see His handiwork from the front, all of those strange and dark threads will prove to have been part of His glorious pattern. Today, remember that “coincidences” are no such thing, that uncertainties and difficulties are opportunities to trust in God, and that behind all of them He is working out His plans to prosper His people in faith and godliness, and to bring them home.”

As I see it, we all have messy and dark circumstances in our lives, sorrows and situations that we may wish would never have happened, and some of which we may not even understand. But I think the key is found in our perspective; a Christian perspective.

A perspective that trusts that the “messy and the dark,” the “gold and silver” are all a part of God’s plan in our lives.

A perspective that He has a purpose for that which we consider as bad, rather as something good, if it has drawn us to Him.

A perspective that God is the Grand Weaver of our lives and of our story, our own personal story of salvation.

A Romans 8:28 kind of perspective:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

By the way, in my search for a replacement tapestry throw, I found one that I like even more than the one I messed up!

Imagine that.