Discarded

All creation sings
Of God’s beauty and holiness.
May we all rejoice.
j.m.mirich

The damaged hand-pieced quilt top lay unfinished, rumpled and a bit forlorn, on the table. No one wanted it, for the navy fabric’s loose weave was fraying and there were spots of stain on a corner. The colors of the 50’s spoke however to a tender-hearted woman and it was given to her as a gift.

Placed on a bed, the top, sans batt or backing colored a simple bedroom. To add comfort and warmth, it needed to be finished. So, the quilt top continued on its sojourn from hand to hand. A professional quilter placed it on her machine and attempted to flatten the lumps and bumps of the Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. When it was placed in the hands of the lady who commissioned the work and would hand finish the edges, she wrinkled her brow.

“This is a bit of a mess,” she lamented to a granddaughter. “I don’t know how I will make this better. The navy fabric is disintegrating and the edges are going to be very difficult.”

There was a smile in the golden-brown eyes of her granddaughter. “Maybe God wanted you to see the beauty in the imperfect,” she said.

Her words reminded me that the Lord God who is perfect sees my imperfections and loves me and calls me His own.  Will I rejoice in the imperfect?