It has been a very cold winter and we have just returned from a lovely week of holiday! Lots of gloves, scarves and hats everywhere in our house at the moment! This made me think of how fortunate I was to have learnt to knit when I was a child. My grandma taught me. We used to visit her on a Sunday and after lunch she would get her needles out and very patiently she would show us what to do. Those were fun days. Unfortunately, she can’t knit anymore because of arthritis but she still helps me when I get stuck reading a pattern!

Recently I decided to make a ruffled scarf. My husband was away on a business trip and I sat down every evening to work on it. It occurred to me that knitting a scarf is very much like living our Christian lives. First you cast on the stitches. That is your foundation. Then you work on each row, making sure to keep the right side of the wool facing the right way (for the ruffled scarf). You carry on until you reach the length you desired and finally you cast the stitches off. During the process, if you are not being careful, you might lose a stitch or add one. When that happens you need to undo the stitches or rows above it in order to correct it. So, focus is important. As you practice you improve your rhythm and soon you are knitting very quickly! I really enjoyed the process and the scarf turned out so pretty that I went out and bought some more wool and knitted another one!

When we are living our Christian lives we cast on the stitches as well, i.e., we give all of our heart to Jesus and put our trust completely in Him. That is our foundation. Then we work each row – we let God take control of each area of our lives and we seek to do what He teaches us in the Bible. We make sure we are looking at the cross of Jesus to keep the right way. We carry on until we reach the end of the race and finally we present our lives before the throne of the King. During the process if we are not careful, we might lose our way or add something to the foundation of our faith. When that happens we need to go back, repent, confess it to Jesus and depend on Him above all things. So, focus on Him is important. As we live our lives seeking to please our King we become more aware of His love for us and we desire to keep loving Him back!

Happy knitting!