Even With Instructions

Clicking on the link will take you to a tutorial on piecing this quilt block. The one in Connie’s tutorial is a wealth of color, but the one I’m making is in pinks and grays – my granddaughter’s requested colors. Here’s the first block I cut and sewed together Friday:

Do you see the problem on the left? Instead of placing right sides together on the final seam, I had it backward. I had to remove the stitches and redo that one seam. While I had that time with my hands busy, my mind did wander, once again finding biblical truths applicable to every day actions.

I had been so comfortable with how the block was going together! Connie’s tutorial page was so concise and easy to follow – and I had the 4x6 card in sight, standing up on my thread holder (thanks again to my Beloved Husband for that jewel!) so it went together as smooth as silk (or washable cotton, rather.) I became complacent and did not check to see if right sides really were together when I started sewing.

We have instructions right before us in our Bible, too. All of those instructions are based on a beautiful foundation:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 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 22:36-40 KJV)

I believe I have enough similarities to other Christians to know that we all become complacent at one time or another and need a reminder of how important love is – or we get our lives backward. Love flows through the New Testament, but it begins with God.

We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 KJV)

Oh, yes – we’re certainly second here! He loved us before we knew He existed. He continues to love us even though we make errors. Some are as simple as noticing and redoing. Other’s seem to roll on for years, even decades, sticking out as sore thumbs – often as painful – but we never get around to reworking.

Some cannot be reworked completely, but show up as scars. With those, we must be cautious that we do not focus on them but on God’s forgiveness (when we acknowledge the error and ask His forgiveness.) When we see only the error, we’re prone to repeat it.

So far, I haven’t repeated an incorrect seam on these quilt blocks. But I do take a bit more time to be certain that it’s right before I lower the presser foot!

Might be a good idea to do that same process check with the subject of loving God and our neighbors. Getting ourselves right with God allows us to actually love our neighbors as we do ourselves.

When we do, things in our lives fit together much better – that’s God’s pattern.