Packing my suitcase for Ohio, I tucked in a skein of lovely grey wool along with the pattern for a pair of cabled mittens, size small- for me! So- I knit on and off, just enough to finish one mitten and begin the second before coming home. A few days ago I completed the second -although wool mittens aren't especially useful in the Texas spring time. Truth be told- I'm obsessed with completing pairs! I love the twisting pattern of cables knit into almost anything. Sometimes I knit the cable row all wrong; I have to rip out, back up, unravel, sort out stitches, but if I calculate and execute correctly, then it comes out just fine- smooth, cabled beauty!
I've been thinking about relationships that get tangled up, like tangled cables. . . hmm, I wish the untangling could be as uncomplicated and predictable as fixing cables in my knitting. God pushes himself and his truth into my tangled relationships. . .
( Colossians 3: 12-13) As those chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, love. . .all those qualities that are vital and useful in the context of relationships. God sees how I dress my heart and so do you!
Bearing with one another, if anyone has a complaint, forgive one another as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven you. (do you all ever have complaints?)
If I have a complaint, a persistent complaint resulting in disunity, I need to remember the question/answer from James 4:1
Q. "What is is it that causes quarrels and conflicts among you?"
A. "Is it not the desires that wage war in your members."
So- lately I've been examining my heart for those stray selfish desires that sometimes hide deep; then if the conflict persists, I'm asking:
Have I been compassionate enough? Have I been gentle enough? Have I been humble enough?
Have I loved fervently enough? Did I forbear long enough? And in the midst of the battle, did I loose hope? Did I give up?
It's not a formula- this pursuit of peace, of untangling relationships. But I worship the God of Peace, revealed in the Gospel of Peace- so I keep at it day after day til there's no more days
. . .to worship the Prince of Peace.
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