My wife is an artist. It’s entertaining and inspiring to watch her paint or draw or craft something from parts of other things. However, one of the most interesting things is how she paints. While many of us need the lines of a drawing to color in, she will do an entire painting and then come back and put in the lines. Before she does that, the painting looks nice, but a bit blurry like when I’m not wearing my glasses. The dark lines that go in last contrast against the bright colors and provide definition and clarity to the piece. Now it’s an amazing piece of art that I can fully see what was originally designed and intended by the artist.

Similar to how the dark lines create definition, our lives have bright areas with dark defined areas that make up the story of our lives. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about love being the most important between faith, hope and love. He adds that we can only experience and truly see God for who He is – Love (1 John 4) after we meet him in heaven. I think this can be stretched to include our lives as a whole. We can only see a small fraction of what our life is, was and will be in God’s great plan that only he can fully knows. It can leave us wanting to skip past or erase the ugly parts and just enjoy the “good times.” God is the Creator and knows the beginning, middle and end of our time and does what is best for us and for his glory. (“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans‬ ‭8:28‬)

One of the greatest allegorical examples on how this all fits together is from a book called “The Bloodstone Chronicles” by Bill Meyers. One section tells the story of two children who are visiting the Weaver who is making a tapestry that is the character of their lives. The girl (Denise) is asleep and having her tapestry woven while Josh is trying to understand and “help.” I will paraphrase and quote as best I can using the text from the book, but removing additional details and names not needed for the story to make sense:

Pointing to the pattern on the Weaver’s loom, Josh says, “That’s just some stupid design he’s making.” Ari responds, “That’s the design of her life, every fiber and strand is woven together as Imager planned. Each thread a moment in her life’s master plan. To create a character both glorious and grand.” Josh realizes it really is Denise and her life, the pattern of who she is. And the pattern was indeed grand and glorious. But the Weaver picks out a dark ugly thread and starts adding it to the pattern. It was an awful, sinister color, so repulsive that it had no place among the beauty. Josh seeing the Weaver about to destroy the beauty rushes to stop him. The Weaver replies, “This thread will give her strength and depth, yes it will.” Josh points out that if this tapestry was her life, this thread would bring her incredible pain, unbearable heartache. As the Weaver continues to weave it in, it seems to fight the beauty and risk destroying the entire design. Josh does everything he can to stop the Weaver, but is unsuccessful and the Weaver completes the tapestry of Denise and she wakes up. The Weaver explains that he has woven the pattern of every person who’s ever lived as he’s had eternity to get everything started. Josh of course wants to see his own, but he’s told that no one is allowed to see the entire tapestry of their life as they would constantly try to change it just as Josh tried to change hers as he didn’t understand the design. So the Weaver takes them to another tapestry that is a beautiful masterpiece. He has them inspect it up close so they can see all the different colors intricately woven together. He points out the darkest thread that runs across the center. Not understanding why such a dark thread is there, they are told to back up and see it within the entirety of the tapestry. From a distance, they can see how it adds to the overall beauty of the piece. It creates a type of strength and contrast which gives the entire tapestry depth, texture and beauty. Without it, the pattern wouldn’t have worked. The Weaver then explained that this is the tapestry of the girl’s brother, Nathan. It showed the spoiled and selfish nature he had until he gave his life to the Imager and his new character that was emerging. Then they looked at the dark thread woven throughout and asked the Weaver what it was. “It’s his hip- the deformity that has caused him to limp with pain over the years. All the brighter threads radiate from the dark one. They are magnified and the beauty intensified. Without the dark thread, there wouldn’t be substance, no strength that we now see.” They could indeed see that his greatest handicap, in the hands of the Weaver, became his greatest strength. The Weaver finishes with, “Imager has great plans for all of you. But sometimes the heart is not big enough to hold such plans- sometimes it must be enlarged through hardship.”

What hardships have you gone through that you wish you could get rid of? Maybe it’s a situation you’re going through now. Maybe a physical or mental handicap that you wish you could change. Perhaps a heartbreaking loss or multiple losses. Cutting holes in the tapestry of your life won’t make it more beautiful. It needs those dark lines (some bigger and darker than others) to define it, to give it character, to give it strength through weakness in the hands of God. Allow the entirety of the tapestry of your life to give God glory.