Life on the Pasture

There is a simple prayer I often find myself praying: "Lord, bless this mess." It is often uttered before a worship service for which I do not feel as prepared as I would like to be. If only I had one more hour to get my thoughts more concrete in my mind. The Lord has a wonderful way of answering that prayer. That doesn't mean I don't take preparation for delivering sermons seriously. It does mean there is a point when preparation has to give way to proclamation. One would think I would learn from that and turn all of my messes over to the Lord. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. The result? The mess gets messier.

My wife Ellen used to do a lot of counted cross stitch. It always amazed me how she could follow a pattern and patiently work to make a beautiful picture. There would be times when she had to rip some things out and redo them, but the end result was always great. Have you ever looked back at a stretch in life during which you had a very difficult time believing God was truly working through all things for your good and, after contemplating things, realized how, like a master weaver, He wove everything together into a wonderful tapestry? Indeed, He blessed the mess.

There’s an interesting account in Acts 16 about Paul making his way to the city of Philippi. He didn’t originally intend to go there. "Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas." (Acts 16:6–8, NLT) It was then that the Lord gave Paul a vision which prompted him to travel to Macedonia and the city of Philippi. The story continues: "On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there." (Acts 16:13, NLT) One of the women there was Lydia who became the first person in Europe to come to the faith.

Who would have thought that Saul the Pharisee who persecuted the early Church would become Paul the Apostle sharing the faith with a small group of women by a river outside of Philippi? Certainly not many of the early Christians enduring persecution. But the Master Weaver knew what He was doing, getting Paul where he needed to be in His service.

And so it is for you and me. As we endure the various messes in life, not knowing how to untangle it, the Master Weaver calls us to drop it in His hands. He knows how to transform a mess into a thing of beauty.

– Pastor Schmidt