sometimes the snag is a thread

It’s happening again. Seemingly random experiences all rising up to say something to me. There’s a theme in my wandering thoughts, a sermon, a scene in a movie, a comment from a friend, a song on the radio…
I thought my current situation was a snag. Something to cut off. To pull to the back side. To try to weave back into the existing fabric so that everything would be like it used to be. But the snag is a thread, pulled out by God to reveal some things. Some things about my incompleteness, my weaknesses, my “issues”. Some things about God’s wholeness. His ability. His presence. And His complete lack of surprise or distress or frustration with my lack.
This snag is not to be cut short. It is to be grabbed onto as a precious thing. I am to see it for what it is: a thread of my life that God – our wondrous Craftsman – intends to weave into something unbearably more beautiful and extraordinarily more useful. Not tucked in to the old fabric. But to become part of something new.

I entered church focused on the snag. The word of grace spoken through the sermon helped me see the thread. You can hear the sermon that was part of my re-orientation at http://blackhawkchurch.org/basics/sermons.php.

It's a gift to be part of a community for whom grace is not merely a bullet point on a doctrinal statement, but a living value.

Under stress, our hearing is not so good. At times when we most need to hear words of grace, truth, comfort and direction we’re least able to hear them. It's a good thing that God does not get tired of repeating Himself. He uses different words, a variety of voices, and ranges in tone and volume til we have ears to hear.

In the repetition, God also gives us something to see. He begins to lift threads
revealing life themes that give direction
tying truth heard in the past to our present experience
weaving grace through the mundane of daily life.

What snags are you facing? Reflect on what you’ve heard and seen in the past few days. Is there a theme? What issues, questions, threads are rising to the surface? Is God pointing you in a direction? Is He reminding you of lessons learned, inviting you to apply those to a present situation? How is He offering grace to you through the very things that feel difficult or uncomfortable?