“Mommy, are you a good sew-er?” my youngest son asked as he entered the dining room. Without looking at him, I said nonchalantly, “I know how to sew a little bit. What do you need?”
“Mommy, are you a really good sew-er?” his trembling voice made my eyes dart up. That’s when I saw tears in his eyes, the head of his magic elf in his right hand, and the body of his magic elf in his left.
Now, you must know that this elf had been wished for since the beginning of November. Nightly notes had been written to Santa describing how well an elf would be cared if dropped off at our home on December 1st. The date was December 2nd and already this prized elf was decapitated.
“I was just trying to take off his shirt so I could dress him in something new,” my worried son explained. Panicked, he repeated, “Mommy, are you a really good sew-er?”
“Don’t worry, honey. I can sew back on his head. The surgery won’t take long and I’ll bring him to you when he’s all better.” Tiny stitch by tiny stitch, I sewed the elf-hatted head onto the red-and-green clad body. Priceless was the joy on my son’s face when he saw his elf all in one piece.
Why do I tell you this story? Because I know we are loved by a God who is a really good sew-er. He holds our inside self and our outside self, and, tiny stitch by tiny stitch, God sews integrity into our whole being. Priceless is our joy when we live all in one piece.
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity (Proverbs 11:3, NIV).
