Crochet Hooks, Workmanship, and Weavers

I recently took up crocheting again. It’s a hobby I enjoyed for years but had set aside.  Over the years I’ve used a crochet hook to create everything from Christmas tree ornaments to my junior high school prom dress. My most recent project was a baby blanket with an ocean motif.

The rhythm of crocheting can be soothing, similar to knitting or other crafts, especially when there are rows upon rows of a repeated pattern. Yarn over hook, hook through the loop, pull through the first loop, then yarn over hook again and pull through the second loop. Repeat until you come to the end of the row.

(Did I lose you with those instructions? 😊)

Even with a complicated pattern, I’m motivated to persevere because the instructions usually include a picture of the finished product. Of course, my finished product doesn’t always measure up to the professional illustration. But at least I have a standard to work toward!

The Weaver

The more I consider it, the more crocheting reminds me of Ephesians 2:10 (NAS):

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

The Bible says I am God’s workmanship. Still, I don’t always feel like the work of God’s hands. More like a hot mess than a work of art!

Thinking of crocheting again, some patterns require me to pull the stitches tight, while others require a looser hand. Some are worked in a single color, while others use variegated yarn. Still others require tying off one color and tying in another. And some patterns add appliques to the main body of the project.

So often I feel like a piece of yarn. Times when God is allowing circumstances to stretch me and other times when I feel as though I’ve been left to the side and forgotten. Days when I feel as though I’ve been tied in knots and other days when God is working in colors I don’t like and hadn’t planned to use. And weeks when it feels as if God is turning and pulling me through tight situations, then repeating the process again and again.

But God is working a pattern that I can’t see. His vision is for me to be a person who is more and more like His Son. Grant Colfax Tuller described it best in his poem:

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving,
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors,
He worketh steadily.

Oft times He weaveth sorrow,
and I, in foolish pride,
Forget he sees the upper
and I the underside.

Not ‘til the loom is silent
and the shuttles cease to fly,
shall God unroll the canvas
and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
in the Weaver’s skillful hands,
as the threads of gold and silver
in the pattern He has planned.