Resistance

Have you ever worked on a project and somehow you can't get yourself to finish it?
I'm working on a quilt that fits that category. I started it with enthusiasm, but now I'm finding little projects (procrasti-quilting) to avoid working on this quilt. True, my working and thinking flow was interrupted for a year by cancer, but still: why is this quilt so hard to finish? I love deadlines and finished products! This is how far I came:

My intention is to sit with this quilt and see what it has to say to me, what God is saying to me, kind of like a "visio divina". I do have to finish this quilt whether I like it or not, because it's for a friend's wedding anniversary.....

I was reminded of this quilt through this morning's prayer:

"Before I see someone as a problem, may I see him or her as a human being" - McRoberts & Erickson

A very good prayer for Lent and any time! Jesus on his way to the cross, never gave up on showing love to people: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extend of his love", John 13:1

Am I willing to love people for who they are, rather than how they are?

Scraps

We all know the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". From a quilter's perspective it goes like "When life gives you scraps, make a quilt".
We all get dealt different pieces of scraps at one point or another, but what do you do with them? 
As quilters we often exchange ready-made blocks  or pieces of fabric that we have no use for, but for others are just the thing they need. 
I was reminded of that today, looking through my memories. A friend had some star blocks that perfectly fit with a piece of fabric I had in my stash and I was able to make a little runner with it.

I also read a book about the underground rail-road. The women involved created a quilt with messages about safe passages and people. All they had was scraps of fabric and they saved hundreds of lives.
When I read today's prayer I didn't really know how to process it:

"May I learn to make good out of what I'm given. 

Rather than only make sense of it"

McRoberts & Erickson

Looking at today's memories and prayer made me realize that this happens to me all the time and it fits perfectly with the season of Lent. 

1 Cor.13:2 - If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, 

but have not love, I am nothing.

We can try to make sense of what happens to us and around us, or we can make something out of our experiences and use them to help others.