"Holy" Jeans

I started making jean quits when my boys decided it was no longer necessary to walk on their feet like normal people.  No, obviously, walking on the knees was much better and efficient!  So, I had perfectly good jeans with perfectly placed holes in the knee area.  I could have patched them, but the store that I bought their jeans from had this guarantee that if your child wears out the jeans before they out grew them they would replace the jeans for free.  I’m very sure the reason this store doesn’t do this anymore is because of us.

So, I had piles of holey jeans that I just couldn’t throw out and I certainly wasn’t going to pass them on to someone else.  “Here!  I have piles of jeans for your kids.  Yes, they have holes in the knees, but you can patch them.  Patching is fun!  You’re welcome!”  No, that was not an option.  So, I started making jean quilts.  A lot of quilts.  

A few years ago, I started praying over the quilts and for the person who it was going to.  While I am cutting up the jeans and making them into 6-inch squares, I pray that those times when he or she may feel like a jumbled pile of discards with an uncertain future, they would know God is shaping them into His plan and purpose.  "'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)

As I start to sew the blocks together, I pray he or she would take each day as it is, and trust God is putting all the pieces of their life together in His timing.  Each day, no matter what it looks like, is part of the whole and that they would embrace it. "Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act." (Psalm 37:7)

When I get to tying all the layers together, I pray that he or she would remember it is God who holds them all together.  When they feel like maybe everything is coming apart, God is there holding and comforting them. "For I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.'" (Isaiah 41:13)

Then the binding!  The part that makes the rough edges disappear and finishes the quilt.  When I get to this stage I pray that they would know that God takes all our rough edges, whatever that may look like, and binds them up.  He makes them beautiful. "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3)

Those old jeans look nothing like they were originally.  They have a new purpose and just like 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, they are a new creation; the old things have passed away; and new things have come. Just like us when we let God take over our lives and make us into something new.

My quilts are nothing fancy, but they remind me and hopefully those that receive one that they are God’s beautiful creation; fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) He takes those times when we feel useless and discarded and gives us purpose and direction.  He takes everything we experience and “sews it together” into a beautiful masterpiece.  Just like those ties, He holds us all together with His love.  And all those rough edges? He binds them while holding us tight and secure.  His works are wonderful, and I know that full well!  I hope you do too!

Enjoying the comforts of His love with you today, 
Lisa