Not Finished, Yet

I can’t tell from the white here, but they are Half Square Triangles, each square consists of two triangles of different fabric. They have been sewn together as two 5” squares, cut apart to make two squares, in the process of being trimmed to 4.5”, then will be sewn together in rows which will then be sewn together and resemble a Texas flag.  It’s a Christmas gift. This quilt will be reversible – a panel showing a Texas map with points of interest, a flowing flag and cowboy graphics, surrounded with western style borders. Great gift for a Texan, right?

As my husband asked, “How far have you gotten?” His concern (of course) is that this is the third quilt for Christmas and here it is past mid-November. I explained that first paragraph to him and his response was, “Do you realize how strange it sounds to say you sewed it together to cut it apart then cut it down so you can sew it together?”

OK, so it’s not simple for a non-participant to understand the piecing process in creating a quilt top. Watch a video or two by Missouri Star Quilt and it will make better sense. But – it does remind me of Christianity. You knew I’d get there, right?

Salvation really is easy:

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:30-31 KJV)

I’ve used that verse over and over because it is an absolute truth. Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. However, after salvation comes the desire to know God. Like the cloth I purchased for the quilt, we can be an example just as we are when we are saved. But – to become the beautiful eye-catching pattern that creates an interest to learn more in another person, we are changed to fit where God desires our service, connected to others to complete a pattern where we are seen as Christians, not just called “Christian” because we belong to a church. That’s helpful, but only to us if we simply sit in a pew.

Oh, I’m getting my analogies all confused, but the meaning is clearly biblical:

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:15-17 KJV)

We are new, putting forth effort to show the light of the world, as Jesus did:

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5 KJV)

He is no longer in the world, but sitting at the right hand of God. We’re told that in many verses, but I like this one best:

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Acts 2:33 KJV)

Because it shows the fulfillment of another verse:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26 KJV)

Just as my pieced quilt top, I’m not finished yet and God is not finished with me. There is more to come, more time for me to continue my work and His.