I was recently visiting with my friend, Randie Felts, who is the very skilled Clarksville Weaver (see the Clarksvilleweaver.com). We were sitting on her back porch talking, and her weaving became the topic of conversation. I asked how long she had been weaving, how she came to create her designs, how long the process takes, and other questions.
As we continued to talk, I sensed that God was nudging me to think about this in a spiritual way. He pressed about the details of the weaving process so Randie shared an incredible amount of information. I’m sure you would agree that we never know the details of an artist’s preparation process until he/she tells/shows us. I will treasure each piece I buy from her because so much is required before even sitting at the loom to weave, such as creating the design, the mathematical figuring for that particular design, selecting the yarns, and measuring them according to the size of the product to be woven. This only “skims the surface” but is what leads her to the actual weaving process.
To think of this in a spiritual way, I wondered about God’s creation process, which led me to consider His starting point when creating us. God began by speaking the world and everything in it into existence. He perceived each of us before the foundations of the world, and He made every one of us. He created a “design” uniquely for me and for you. He contemplated which threads of yarn (color and type of yarn) to pull together for every distinctive design. He then considered the length of the yarns for each person. He confirmed how to attach them on the back of His loom. He stretched them for their full length. He combed through and separated each small section to ensure there were no crossed threads or hindrances to a God-made woven design.
He then proceeded to send the shuttle through the shed and find the “sweet spot” between the fabrics where the threads are spaced apart enough for the shuttle to go through without any hang-ups. This weaving has a rhythm - as Randie “throws the shuttle”, she is also using her feet to push 2 sets of pedals. This raises and lowers the threads so that the shuttle is crossing each set of threads to create a weave. This sending of the shuttle back and forth through the shed is what makes the design “come to life”.
Psalm 139:14-18 (NLT)
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up, you are still with me!
Oh how the praises do flow upon thinking of God at the loom. He is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (everywhere present), and omnipotent (all powerful). And at the same time, He is kind and loving in ALL His ways. He is in control of all things and especially when He is creating another unique human being at the loom.
Thanks for stopping by,
Rachel
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