The Sylvr Pen

So what do folds and rolls of fabric (last post) have to do with “living more fully the Christian life”? Nothing in and of themselves, and yet…

Why Fold and Roll, Anyhow?

The reason I got into the folding and rolling was as much about cleaning up my mess, getting my whole life more organized, and improving my stewardship of what God has given me, as about a love for sewing and cloth.

Given the choice between cloth and Kingdom life with the King, I’d choose the latter, hands down. In the past I even questioned my glut of hobby interests as maybe a waste of my short earthly time, but God showed me different. (I’ll have to write a post someday about the striking way He did this.)

What we do with what we have can be more important than we realize. And whether we make order of our lives and good and creative use of our stuff not only makes good sense, but reflects and honors a creative God of order.

“Coincidental” Commentary

Interestingly, before I got to my keyboard this morning to start writing this, on a seeming whim I tuned in the kitchen radio while the coffee brewed, to hear what Chuck Swindoll might have to say today. (At 5 AM, not a daily occurrence!)

Well! Another of God’s coincidences! Swindoll’s topic: cheerful giving, with a willing spirit–but not of just money, but also skills, abilities, and creative gifts–like Exodus talks about, where, for one thing, women gave of their talents and their exquisite cloth creations, or their finely spun thread and yarn (Exd 35:25-26).

This, and his reference to Exodus chapter 28, where God speaks of “all [who are] gifted artisans” as those “whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom” (Exd 28:3), got me gratefully motivated.  Any artisanal skill is a gift from the ultimate Creator!

And An Apt Quote

Then later, in looking for a word in an old Roget’s Thesaurus, I came upon this quote about artistic beauty: “A treating of the commonplace with the feeling of the sublime” (J. F. Millet). Wow!

So now I’m revved for creative fun, and though creativity creates clutter, it functions better with the clutter cleared away. So off I go, to roll up the last of the usable scraps, and finish getting that sewing (and loom) room in usable order!

This time I’m finally gonna do it! I’m gonna get my wretched sewing room into usable order!

Usable is the key word.

Order has appeared before–and quickly disappeared, unless I closed the door and stayed out of the room! I have long needed a system that will help me find fit fabrics for the next patchwork project without turning the room into the kind of chaos that inspired a son’s childhood poem to chant, “Where, oh where, is Mom? Drowning in a sea of cloth…” You get the idea.

Well, I happened upon this great post about how to fold fabric uniformly for neat and handy shelf display, and I thought, “Why not?”

Fun?

Do I mean this fabric folding is actually fun? Yes, I think so.

I enjoy not only the results, but also the process. Handling each fabric, considering its colors, hues, and patterns, gets my creative juices going. And stacking them in such visible and accessible order invites me to consider this one with that, without even removing them from the shelf. The prospect of being able to take out and line up candidates, then return them in the same neat condition, removes the dread of a resulting mess that has inhibited me in the past.

Not Fun:

What’s not been fun is dealing with small scraps. Too many, in too much disorder! Up till now, I just threw them together into baskets or boxes. Over time, the accumulating clutter only got more chaotic and unusable. Finding particular fabrics or colors required dog-like digging and pawing. Big, frustrating time waster!

I think I’ve solved the problem by borrowing a page from my dear, long-deceased mother:

After any sewing project. she used to roll up the leftover fabric in a neat bundle and tie it with a strip of cloth. I’m in the process of copying her–although I have two sizes of scraps. The larger pieces that I can fold into neat rectangles I park at the end of a clear plastic shoe box, and stand the larger rolls in the rest of the box. I can see all at a glance!

The small rolls wouldn’t be worth the bother if I didn’t do piecing and have a darlin’ granddaughter to make the kind of miniature things kids love. Since I seriously think I will use them, I’ve packed them into smaller see-through containers.

The not-fun part? The sheer tediousness (and extent!) of the rolling-up project: lots of sorting–and pawing–for matching material tidbits! I almost quit in the middle, but now I’m nearing the end. And I realize that if I’d just bundle away all extra fabric as soon as I finish a project, this might not feel like work at all!

From Here On…

So, onward and upward! I realize the key action from here on is “clean up after yourself!”

Hm. A general principle here for keeping physical (and spiritual?) order? Could be!

Ask me in six months–or six weeks!–how I’m doing.

I am the LORD…Who frustrates the signs of the babblers and drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness…

I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand…’ -Isaiah 44:24-25; 46:9-10

*****

Intriguing, the websites and philosophies that sometimes link to my blog. The recent draw—to pre-Easter posts—was evidently the word prophecy.

So I think I ought to address this topic.

Prophecy Excitement

I used to get all excited about various predictions about the future, and the doom or destiny of us earthlings, especially as it would affect myself — like the present 2012 stuff. There’s something compelling about the mysterious unknown—and anyone who seems to have a special understanding of it. And I had a basic survival instinct—like most normal people.

The 1984’s and the 1988’s and the 2012’s and all those other predicted world doom dates grab a big audience. So do the Nostradamuses and Sylvia Brownes, and the ancient prophecies of various cultures, living and dead (like the Mayan).

Voila la Difference

However, the difference between all that soothsaying and this blog’s content of the past month is huge—because Bible prophecy is a whole ‘nother realm. Anyone who tuned in here with thoughts of 2012 or Nostradamus or today’s psychics ought to reread the pre-Easter blogging and note some striking facts:

Prophecy Details Fulfilled

-These posts told of ancient Bible prophecy details, fulfilled and verified in just one week of the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly life!

-A lot more Old Testament foreshadowings found fulfillment in that one week than my time and space limitations allowed me to include.

-The Old Testament contains a great number of other prophetic details that the New Testament, and other recorded history, have verified as fulfilled already.

Forecasting the Future

-Both the Old and New Testaments are loaded with prophecies about the end of the world, the fate of mankind, and other things to come.

Prophet/Non-prophet Test

-(And here’s the big point.) If you’re into prophecy that comes true, consider Bible prophecy’s astounding record. A modern “seer” who even claims 80-90% accuracy takes people’s breath away. Yet the biblical requirement for a prophet was 100% accuracy! (plus further qualifications —next paragraph). Getting one prediction wrong landed the “seer” an F—for False prophet, who should be ignored completely, and, in the ancient nation of Israel, also dead! (Deut 18:20-22)

-Even 100% accuracy wouldn’t pass the test if the prophet used it to turn his listeners away from the LORD to any false gods (Deut 13:1-3).

Bottom Line Prophecy

So, if you want to see really great prophecy fulfillment, read the Bible. Note all the prophecies fulfilled in Christ and His church. Then read soberly every prophecy yet to reach fulfillment, and how His word says to escape ultimate doom.

Ever consider this?

Jesus stayed around quite a while after His resurrection, before ascending to the Father. Forty days, in fact (Acts 1:3). Yet the Gospels, after devoting between one-fourth and one-third of their entire text to His final week before the cross, give only a few scanty paragraphs about the whole post-Resurrection, pre-Ascension time.

Nevertheless, it had to be important.

Hmm.

Look Again

Thinking about this prompted me to look again at those few paragraphs and see how much might be packed into them. I did it yesterday. I’m doing it again today. And yes, they are crammed with vital stuff!

I saw that this time period consisted primarily of Jesus’ encouragement of, and final instruction to, His followers–with lots of review and scripture illuminating and explaining. Of course it included the Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20 and Mk 16:15) and Christ’s instruction for the disciples to wait in Jerusalem till they were “endued with power from on high” (Lk 24:49).

But there’s more–other commands that we should take to heart and pour ourselves into obeying. And they might flit right past us if we don’t pay attention…

For today, I’m considering just one.

One thing to Do

Do you know what Christ’s first post-resurrection command to His followers was–at least the first one the Bible mentions? Only this morning, on rereading the Gospel finales, did I really notice it as a command: “Rejoice!” (Mt. 28:9).

Was this just a for-the-moment comfort word to some despondent women rushing from an empty tomb in consternation? I don’t think so. For Jesus gave the same instruction in the Beatitudes. And look how the Apostles echoed it: (Paul in Philippians 3:1 & 4:4,and 1 Thessalonians 5:16; Peter in 1 Peter 4:13; and then John, repeating the command/invitation that the heavenly multitude voiced in Revelation 19:7).

Lovely command. I think I’ll “work on” obeying it today.

🙂

Yesterday after church I was talking with a Christian who said he doesn’t do much for Easter. I think he may represent much of western Christianity. We spend a month getting ready for Christmas–at least the secular festivities attached to it–and the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection gets little more than a nod.

If we have little kids around (or overgrown ones), we may dye some eggs and make up a basket of goodies or two and play “Easter bunny.” But what does any of that have to do with the resurrection?

Yet the Bible, which gives no instruction about celebrating Christ’s birth, does instruct, repeatedly, to “remember the Lord’s death till He comes.” And the Resurrection is the main point of Christianity. Without it, our faith is useless! (1 Cor 15:17,19).

So, if in the bustle and fury of life’s drivenness you didn’t get much chance to focus on the heart of the day yesterday and the hope of joy and glory ahead, here are some Old Testament verses prophesying resurrection (and a few New Testament ones). Just hover your cursor on each, read, savor, and rejoice!

Isaiah 26:19

Job 19:25-26

Psalm 17:15

Psalm 16:10

Daniel 12:2

John 14:19

1 Thessalonians 4:14

1 Corinthians 15:3-7,21-22