Monday 6 October 2014

Metaphors and symbols

The longer I live and learn the more I see the world in metaphors. I don't know if it's just my creative mind or if others have this experience as well. I've always been fascinated by symbols. I even created a card game with all the Christian/church symbols for one of my confirmation classes with teens. They say a picture says a thousand words and maybe I'm too much influenced by comics and studying symbols but my brain is always trying to interpret the things I see around me or the things that are happening in my life.
Maybe I've never grown out of the toddler stage of asking "Why?" or maybe God wants us to ask this question from Him? Maybe it's the curious eternal student in me that wants to know how things work or fit together.
Anyway when I design quilt patterns I often use symbols, as many of the old block designs were meant to be. Look at this little quilt I made some years ago

As you look at each block or strip, they are different symbols for my heritage. The red, white and blue are the colours of the Dutch flag, which you see in the bottom block as well. The maple leaf is a symbol for Canada, and the center block is a log cabin. My home is between two countries and I call them both home. The side borders are flying geese, a symbol again for Canada, but also for me moving around a lot and travelling around the world. The bottom border of little houses stands for having a home wherever I am, as well as the typical Dutch row houses with red roofs.



When I made a trip to Bolivia I used these ideas and adapted them to that country. You get the idea.

Scripture tells us in Genesis that we are the "imago Dei" or image of God. Everything in creation is a reflection of who God is and if we look around us we can find God in people, in nature, even in situations we don't understand. So maybe my search for understanding and interpreting symbols around me is at the deepest level a search for God? And my excitement to share what I've found and discovered is a reflection of His joy for us when we discover Him in the clues he has given us?


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