guaranteed results, imagine THAT!

at my house knitting and sports go together!  if he's watching SPORTS .... i'm KNITTING!  year round .... football, hockey (which lasts from october to early June, thank the Lord!), golf, taped re-plays .... sports SHOWS (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN U, ESPN 360) ....  "we" watch a LOT of sports ... so "we" do a LOT of knitting! 

i have found that i can (and do) knit more inticrate patterns and details while we're watching something sports related, usually.  however, if there's a new movie on ... i have my basket of 'easy' knitting ... no thinking required, no counting, no row marking .... just straight sit-n-knit! and there are days when we ALL need to visit "that" basket, just for the calm and therapy of knitting and having something to show for it!

i really enjoy hockey season ... i get a LOT of lace work done! sometimes it's a stitch by stitch, row by row kind of project .... where slowly, but surely, the delicate details fall off my needles and soon a simple little 'row' becomes a shawl full of prayers and singular beauty that reflect a focus and attention to detail - and i realize that had i opted to 'interpret' the pattern rather than 'submit and follow' the pattern .... my finished product would look nothing like the picture i was hoping for.

following the pattern ..... hum!  why is THAT an easier process for me?  to follow someone else's pattern is not considered a sign of weakness - in fact, we often PAY for those instructions.   to pour over the details and mark the rows and measure the progress - - we buy clickers and sticky notes to keep track.  We buy stitch markers to leave signals of where we've been so we can apply what we've already learned.  we even leave 'lifelines' at the beginning of a pattern repeat to provide support should we have to rip it back to a particular starting point ... so WHY .... if i can follow a pattern, do i find it so hard to follow my Lord .....

He IS the pattern for my life.  He created it ... He wrote it down and gave me His Word (66 different books with 31,173 verses)   ... He is The Picture - so i clearly have a vision of what i should look like.  HE paid for the instructions - with His death on that cross.  and yet, i often feel so compelled to (and am so stubborn as to think that i can actually) read the map myself withOUT consulting Him!  I have no problem being 'dependent' on a random person for knitting instructions, which take hours of my time and money ... i just jump right in and start knitting and making notes.  Really? what AM i thinking ....

therefore, i urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.  (rom. 12:1-2)

He is The Designer of the pattern that's perfect for the yarn of my life .... He longs to renew (to bring into being again .. HIS way, and not mine) me so that my 'yarn' reflects the needles He uses in order to create the finished 'garment' He has envisioned  (according to His good, pleasing and perfect will).  who knows?  i may be a sweater ... or a shawl ... or a sock!  we'll all know once He binds of and "blocks" me ... to present me to His Father as a final gift!  I pray that i will be worthy of His time and investment!