You, and Your Curious Piece of Tapestry

It was a curious piece of tapestry. What happened there? Why did the artist weave this in? Perhaps for our Providence.

When I was pastoring in a church community, one of the roles I had was to officiate at funerals.

Often, I would know very little about the deceased.

I would meet with the family and friends and create a kind of tapestry of who this person was.

Stories were shared, and music played. Pictures of them were shown, and often humorous tales told.

I would hear mottos and quotes the person had lived by. Achievements and failings.

As I listened, I took notes. Lots of them.

I would ask gently curious questions.

I wanted to get a picture of who this person was.

Having someone want to know your loved one helps in the journey of grief and loss.

The tapestry

Some tapestries are large.

One of the most famous is the Bayeux Tapestry which is nearly 70 metres (230 feet) long and 50 centimetres (20 inches) tall.

Most are much smaller, but they contain a story.

Tapestries tell stories.

The artist weaves the threads of the story.

Beauty and meaning woven in and out.

Different fibres are used. Even gold and silver.

Until it is revealed and the whole of the story can be seen.

A curious piece of tapestry

I would like you to imagine an enormous piece of tapestry.

This tapestry is so large that wraps the entire world.

Into this tapestry is woven every person’s life.

If I look closely, I can see yours.

I can see mine.

Providence is like a curious piece of arras [tapestry], made up of a thousand shreds, which single we know not what to make of, but put together, and stitched up orderly, they represent a beautiful history to the eye. John Flavel

I see your section of the tapestry.

Thousands of shreds – the scraps or fragments of your life.

You’re in the storm, in the middle of that shred of evidence of being human.

You don’t know what to make of it.

Storms can be lonely places of despair.

We cry out

When will this storm cease?
I’m so alone in the storm. Where are you, God?
What’s causing the storm?
Can I be thrown overboard, Lord? I want to die.

There’s a larger story going on than just your own.

There’s a beautiful history presented to the eye.

Exquisite beauty. Incredible movement.

Stories of how you have battled the storms of depression, anxiety, addiction, and temptations.

Of course, you’ve had your failings, who hasn’t, but somehow your little section of the tapestry seems to perfectly fit in with others.

How has Providence woven the tapestry of your life?

The Bible tapestry

That’s what I like about the Bible.

It’s a piece of tapestry.

It tells the story of people like us.

People who had their failings but, with the help of God, were able to find hope and move a little closer to knowing God in all fullness.

I wonder which biblical character would be woven into the tapestry alongside my little section of the screen. Probably quite a few.

For a year I climbed a mountain with Abraham. I have sat shiva with Job and felt bitterness with Naomi.

Thomas’s doubts still haunt my movement forward.

In Soultalk, I listen to the tapestry of others’ lives.

What a glorious intertwining of God’s providence is to be seen.

A beautiful history

Something good is happening.

I can not see it at the moment. I am so captured by the struggles of the day. The pain and suffering that we humans can inflict upon each other is beyond belief.

But when I see an act of generosity, a kindness expressed, that is when I see a providential weave.

A movement happens. From one person to another. Something of the nature of God comes, then hope comes again.

It’s a curious piece of tapestry.

Contained are events we would rather not put on display, but all together, they represent a beautiful history to the eye.

We all have mess

We all have mess. Things we have done and things done to us.

Shame, guilt, self-loathing are the event colours.

Arrogant pride, self-righteous behaviours, ‘look at me’ demands style the weave.

Can we live in the hope that the mess we are in can be redeemed? Good can be made out of it?

That the tapestry will somehow point to something

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. R omans 8:28

Something gloriously good is happening. A tapestry is being woven. You’re part of it, and it’s going to be beautiful to the eye.

A curious piece of tapestry

Reveal your goodness
Show something of your eternal hand
Galaxies formed billions of years before
Chart a kinder hand

There’s something big going on
A larger story unfolds
Meta mega tapestry
A shred is in your hand

You choose it from the pile
Weave it in and out
Angels gasp in awe
The beauty coming out

Reveal to my heart today
Something of your story going on
Where you have taken my shred of struggle
Providence sings it’s song

I sit with Job
Jeremiah weeps in a well
Peter starts to sink
Naomi’s bitter heart to tell

Take all the shreds
Ripped up and rejected times
Weave them into something beautiful
Yours right alongside mine

Your eye sees every shred
Every moment of ripped off cloth
Naked we need new clothes
Look the garment that does unfold

A glory out of all those bits
Discards shredded in disgust
God takes the broken fibres all
Weaves them into one

Reveal what you are up to
In your way and time
A curious piece of tapestry
Gloriously divine

Quotes to consider

Life may be compared to a piece of embroidery, of which, during the first half of his time, a man gets a sight of the right side, and during the second half, of the wrong. The wrong side is not so pretty as the right, but it is more instructive; it shows the way in which the threads have been worked together. Arthur Schopenhauer
Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life resembles Gobelin tapestry; you do not see the canvas on the right side; but when you turn it, the threads are visible.
Madame De Stael
We look at life from the back side of the tapestry. And most of the time, what we see is loose threads, tangled knots and the like. But occasionally, God’s light shines through the tapestry, and we get a glimpse of the larger design with God weaving together the darks and lights of existence. John Piper
In the tapestry of life, we’re all connected. Each one of us is a gift to those around us helping each other be who we are, weaving a perfect picture together. Anita Moorjani
Destiny is thrifty. To weave her tapestry, she uses even the tiniest snips of thread. Zelda Popkin
Life is a tapestry woven by the decisions we make. Sherrilyn Kenyon
Life is a great tapestry. The individual is only an insignificant thread in an immense and miraculous pattern. Albert Einstein
The tapestry of history is woven of many threads. Jacqueline Carey
No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there’s always a thread of grace. Mary Doria Russell
Destiny itself is like a wonderful wide tapestry in which every thread is guided by an unspeakable tender hand, placed beside another thread and held and carried by a hundred others. Rainer Maria Rilke

Questions to answer

What is the weave of your life that you are fixated on?
Considering the whole of one’s life, the whole of one’s tapestry, how has providence been alongside you?
The verse above states, ‘People cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.’ What feelings and thoughts emerge when you read this?

Formation exercise

Consider someone you know as a piece of tapestry. Be gently and prayerfully curious about them. What has gone into their tapestry, their story? Where has providence shaped their path?