“Something has gone terribly wrong.  And everyone knows it.”  is how the chapter on the Fall opens in the book Doctrine by Driscoll and Breshears. The last few days around here have proven it over and over, and I’m not talking about the frustrations inherent in every sewing project, but they are a good illustration!  Just look at what happened to Mary’s bobbin over and over during our Saturday girls’ sewing day until we diagnosed the problem:

On Monday we learned that the young brother of a church member is fighting for his life due to sudden complications from pneumonia.  He had just not been feeling well for a few days, and now this.  Yesterday we learned that friends had lost their oldest son, a senior at UMass, to possible suicide.  This is the second friend of mine to lose a son to suicide in the last year. Last week we sent Valentine flowers to a young woman whose husband has chosen to divorce her even though she doesn’t want him to. Kayla came down with a fever and aches again last night after a full day at Classical Conversations ~ her 4th round of fever, aches, flu, etc since the summer. And today a friend and I shared Starbucks coffee and stories of the battles and disappointments that go hand in hand with parenting, and our often sinful reactions of anger and harsh words.  Yes, everyone knows that things are not as they should be.  There are reminders everywhere.

While we pinned and cut and pinned and cut some more, I kept reminding the girls how important precision is each step of the way. The pajama pattern we were using is actually quite forgiving, unlike a tailored shirt or dress, but lining things up as perfectly as possible along the way ensures less frustration at the end.  Even then, the finished product often does not quite measure up to your hopeful expectation.

It got me thinking about sin, and confession, and this season of considering my imperfections, my depravity. Ever since Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden, the pattern for humanity and creation has been imperfect ~ pervasively so.  It’s not necessarily that my sin is only the “bad stuff” I do, but rather it pervades {spread through and perceived in every part} my entire being, the entire order of the natural world. All is marred and imperfect ~ my thoughts, my motives, my actions, my desires…everything. It’s the reason for sickness, and suicide, angry outbursts, divorce, and all other disasters and tragedies.

And knowledge of this is what ought to make the Cross and salvation so glorious to me.  Jesus pays for my imperfections and rebellion, and then He even makes something good of me by and through Himself.  He takes my imperfectly cut pattern and fabrics and sews together something useful and beautiful in His grace.