Chotard Doll

Dear Companions on the journey,

I’ve been knitting a lot recently. I find it contemplative, allowing my mind to be free while my hands satisfy my need to be active. I also find it fascinating that one stitch depends on the one beneath it, so I’m constantly building something new, with different colors and patterns growing as I work.

So Psalm 86 appointed for today spoke to me: “Knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.”

Our daily relationship with God depends on so much that goes before it. And, on so much that we do daily. All of my thoughts and actions are undergirded by my trust and faith in God, so much so that I am in danger of taking that foundation for granted. I move forward thinking I have things under control. Since I am grounded in the faith, surely I can move forward with confidence. I don’t need to bother God with this decision.

And when I do that, I drop a stitch! I am no longer connected firmly to that vital stitch below, and that stitch is Jesus.

I don’t get direct messages from God, but reading scripture and praying the psalms shapes me, enabling me to make beautiful patterns I could not make on my own. My faith life has a lot of dropped stitches, some of which I have patched together, and many of which I trust God has forgiven. But I still try faithfully to build on the stitch underneath, which is the presence of the word of the Lord.

“Teach me your way , and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.”

Faithfully,

—Chotard