Good morning…
Pictured above is a framed print I recently brought home from a fascinating yard sale. Somehow it feels like a self-portrait of me looking into the mirror of our multifaceted God, the living body of Christ. The thread running through the colorful minds of these partial people reminds me of the rich tapestry of healing love woven within and among us. Belonging in God’s mysterious mosaic, we are all knit together with an intricate, invisible thread.
The word thread brings me back to a poem forwarded to me by a dear friend this week.
******
“The Way It Is” by William Stafford
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
******
“I am holding on by a thread,” we hear overwhelmed people say. This thread is our invisible God, the Sustainer who whispers, “When you feel at the end of your rope, grab hold of Me. I will keep you living and loving.” I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! (Colossians 2:2-3, MSG). During these tumultuous times, will we hold onto God’s great mystery and not get lost? Our living LORD yearns to bind us together when tragedies happen, when people get hurt or die, when each one of us suffers, when aging and time unfold, unstoppable.
Nowadays it seems we are forming expansive new bonds, smaller, more intimate, one of a kind connections intertwining us securely with God and each other. Many of us are holding on by this thread, overwhelmed by unsettling uncertainty within and around us…But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart (I Corinthians 2:16b, AMPC). Nothing we can do will stop time’s unfolding, but onto the Eternal thread we all must keep holding.
…Sue…
