When I was 8 my mom started to teach me how to sew. I started with simply first just sewing on a piece of paper to understand how it feels.
My first project was a pillow case and then a skirt. I started by going very slowly to make sure all the stitches were perfect. But sometimes my straight line wasn't so straight and I had to unpick it.
I disliked unpicking it took so much time to sew it then I had to unpick which took even longer and sew it again. I would get so frustrated every time I would have to unpick.
My mom wouldn't make me unpick but she would say, "If I was my Grandmother I would make you do it again, but you can decide what you do." I would usually unpick and do it again. After I would unpick and fix my mistake I was so much happier knowing that I did my very best. I would be happy at how my project turned out so well.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matt 7:13-14
My sewing and having to unpick is just like our lives. Sometimes we aren't so straight on the straight and narrow path. We make mistakes in our lives that take us farther away from our Heavenly Father.
We can stay in our ways or we can turn our hearts and will to God. Just as my mom let me choose if I would unpick or not... the choice is ours.
Sincere repentance brings several results. We feel God's forgiveness and His peace in our lives. Our guilt and sorrow are swept away. We feel the influence of the Spirit more. And when we pass form this life, we will be more prepared to live with our Heavenly Father and His Son.
Just how I was happier with my sewing we can be happier with our lives as we repent and follow our Heavenly Father.
Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. Alma 7:9
My Cross-Stitch Ponies
ReplyDeleteSandra Jennings, New Mexico, USA
09684_000_020
I have a cross-stitched picture of two pinto ponies that I worked on for about a year. It was almost completed when I discovered I’d made a mistake in the color of one of the ponies. Since it was a possible color for a horse’s hide, I didn’t realize my mistake until I saw that the color of the pony clashed with the adjacent colors on the canvas.
I was devastated. I had spent all that time working on the picture, and the thought of taking out all the stitches of the wrong color was almost overwhelming. With tears in my eyes, I opened the trash can and threw the picture in.
I sat down at the table where I kept my sewing supplies to mourn the loss of my pretty pony picture and move on to other projects. But I couldn’t do it—I couldn’t just let go of the project I had worked so hard on. I opened the trash and retrieved the cloth. I found a knot on the back of the offending color and snipped it carefully. Turning the picture over, I began removing the thread.
Sometimes the removal went quickly. Other times I found it wasn’t so easy. I wasn’t sure how to undo what I had done. Sometimes I had to cut the thread one stitch at a time. My son remarked that he was impressed that I would go to all that work to make it right. It was only a cross-stitched picture, after all.
As I removed the stitches, I began to think of repentance and how hard it has been to correct some of the errors I have made. True repentance requires intense desire, labor, and suffering, but it is worth the effort.
As I restitched the horse, I was reminded that repentance allows Jesus’s Atonement to remove the stain of sin from my life and help me begin anew. My “repentance ponies” hang in my home, a gentle but vivid reminder to do what is right, never give up when I fall short, and remember that through repentance, the Atonement will make up the difference.
I had spent all that time working on the picture, and the thought of taking out all the stitches of the wrong color was almost overwhelming.
Love the analogy, Sister Koford! It is so true--the choice to repent is ours, but we're always SO much happier when we know we've done our best and are following in the way of the Lord.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a small world... I meet you at a Christmas party with Brittney Joost, and next thing I know we're serving in the same mission!
Here's a link to my blog for those who want to take a look:
http://www.fulgorygloria.blogspot.com