Used Fabric

Today I opened the right box in the shed to find the peddle to my sewing machine. I was very excited and look forward to getting back to some quilting projects that I have ignored for far too long. First I needed to take apart a quilt that was no longer usable. I recently washed it and when I opened the washer it had come apart. I decided to dry it and see what, if anything, was still usable.

I decided to take it apart because so much of it was still in good condition and I could use in projects. The entire backing is very usable and I hope it is the right size for a quilt cover I finished long ago. As I was taking it apart I found that quite a bit was usable, but unfortunately not all of it.

This particular quilt was the very first bed-size quilt I have ever made. I made it back before the days when I had a sewing machine so the entire thing was made by hand, so it was easy to rip out the seams. As I was ripping them out I had to smile with the thought that went through my mind.

"God uses old fabric." As we grow we change. We outgrow things. Some things we had were handmade, hand sewn, and they are old, there are rips and tears, and then it falls apart. Now "machine sewn" things in our lives get worn out, fall apart just like "hand sewn" ones. But some of those "hand sewn" things tend to fall apart more easily.

God sometimes needs to take those old things in our lives apart. They may not be usable anymore or just not good enough. Maybe He wants to replace our "hand sewn" things with His "machine sewn". The "hand sewn" may have been good, but His is better. Even so, He doesn't always throw away every piece of the old. He leaves part, the usable good parts, in the new thing.

It makes me think of a move, something I have done a lot. When you move you go to a new house, everything about the house is different than the old one, yet, you bring along old things from your last house. Maybe it's furniture, maybe it's photos or other decorations, regardless you bring them. They become a part of your new house.

I think God does that with the old, but usable, fabric pieces of our lives. He takes away the ripped and torn and removes them from our lives, but He uses the good pieces to make beautiful new things in our lives.

 I am a bit sad to throw away those torn pieces, but I know they need to go. I am sad about the old things in my life that He is removing, but I know they need to go. And I look forward to seeing how God will use the good fabric in my life in the new that He is making.