Following A Pattern

Back in 2009 I wrote a blog, “Sewing It Up”, about difficulties following directions. It was written before I was using graphics, and it was rather short, too. One of the things I wrote:

At times things are not working as expected, as promised. Promises include joy and a glorious future. Here and now, there is trouble and faith is wavering. There are events that bring sadness, sorrow, frustration, anger, fear. Were not the promises that these burdens would be placed elsewhere?

… came to mind today while I was thinking about errors I’ve made on this particular quilt top. on the far left is a finished column. on the sewing table are two squares correctly sewn to create the pattern, and two squares where I got it wrong. It seemed right when I sewed it!!

I may have seemed right to me as I was doing it, but once it was out from under the presser foot – it was wrong. I knew better than to trust my own judgment but to follow the right pattern. That’s based on an early Bible lesson:

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6 KJV)

Israel was told not to do that a generation or two before:

Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. (Deuteronomy 12:8 KJV)

The lesson continued for generations afterward:

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12 KJV)

Paul knew this lesson, too:

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (Romans 7:19 KJV)

Following a pattern to achieve expected results applies in a number of instances besides piecing a quilt or sewing a dress. If we want peaches out of our own orchard for cobblers, we would plant peach trees, not apples – no matter how good they were. We follow the correct pattern, we achieve expected results.

So, what does a Christian expect? The result I expect is eternal life with Him. Doesn’t seem like too much to expect, especially when It’s the same promise Christ made to a thief:

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43 KJV)

And, what does God expect? That’s laid out in scripture, too:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)

Those are for us to consider and to follow. Later, Jesus told us to teach His commandments, but we were never told to impose them on another. Each one of us must determine whether to follow the pattern for the desired results – or continually seek other ways that seem right to us. Frankly, I’d rather be right with God!!