Tapestries

If you were a cognizant human being in the early 70’s … or if you’re a fan of Carol King’s music … you might remember these lyrics:

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hues
An everlasting vision of the ever changing view
A wond’rous woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold.

And maybe you’ve heard the analogy of your life as a tapestry that is being woven with each passing moment. One that is, and will be, beautiful – but, you can only see the back of it, which looks like a whole lot of random threads, in clashing colors, haphazardly stuck together. Only God can see it from the front right now, and as the artist, he is creating a work of magnificent beauty.

I do love the images this conjures up in my imagination. Every meaningful moment, every joyous celebration, every failure and every triumph, all the random bits of my life, the ones that hurt, the ones that make no sense … they will all be used in the final portrayal. I see them as threads of beauty held together by knots of grace.

But, have you ever thought about when that tapestry will be completed? Have you wondered where it will be displayed … and for whom? I have. For a long time, I figured the tapestry would be finished right after I took my last breath on this planet. After all, that’s when my story ends, right? And maybe my tapestry would be hung on the outer wall or door of my “mansion”? Pondering that has led me down another trail of thought.

I’ve learned that our God holds a kingdom where we are all connected, and nothing is ever wasted. Our lives will touch the lives of many people that we will never know here on earth. Every kindness you extend touches not only that one person, but every person he or she then reaches out to. Every prayer you pray continues to exist long after you say, “Amen.” So, what does that mean? It means that our effectiveness in the kingdom cannot be fully measured until we stand on the New Earth in the New Heaven. Up until then the book remains open for new entries.

And another thought has been rattling around in my brain over this last week: since our stories are intricately interconnected one with another, couldn’t our tapestries also be woven together somehow? Would it be at the edges, where threads can be extended to another tapestry and delicately woven into it? Could there be different colored cords that act as a glossary or index, with a master book that will allow us to follow a particular story? Don’t you want to meet the people who never knew you, but spoke into your life in a way that changed you for the better? Don’t you want to tell them “thank-you”? And wouldn’t you love to be approached by someone who says, “You didn’t know it, but you turned my life around.”? And, then you could walk with them to view their tapestry and see how it intersected yours?
I know this is probably a huge flight of fancy, but there is one positive thing I can name that it’s helped me be more aware of. If I am inadvertently contributing to someone else’s tapestry, then I want to make sure I’m giving them threads of joy, love, peace and encouragement. Threads that will add “rich and royal hues in bits of blue and gold to the wond’rous woven magic” of a tapestry that is their life.