Make Your Own Pattern

Thanks to the very kind donation of a large amount of Cath Kidston fabric from a lovely lady at church this morning, I have spent the afternoon attempting to make a cushion cover.

 

I have a vague idea of what I am doing, although I managed to cut the pieces too small to begin with.  I have cut and hemmed most of the pieces of fabric and have pinned most of the big bits together.  However, I haven't made an easy job for myself as I am making the pattern up and have included a contrasting fabric (which I have trimmed with lace), along the sides.

 

I have been staring at the different pieces for a good half hour wondering how best to proceed with the actual arranging and assembling of the finished piece.  The easiest option would simply to be to stitch everything to the cushion inner, but it would hardly be a cushion 'cover'.

 

It feels a bit like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle with no box to copy the picture from, and no idea if you have all of the right pieces.

 

Still, I have been enjoying myself.

 

Sometimes my life can feel a bit like this, too.  I have lots of different pieces and sections and I'm not sure which is the front or the back, or which bits should be joined to others.  My life often feels fragmented and disjointed and I wish there was an easy pattern to follow.

 

But the lovely thing about not really following a pattern is that I am making a cushion cover that no one else has made before.  It will be completely unique.  And in the same way, I am living a life that no one else has lived before.

 

I am making my own pattern.

 

Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans,

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

 

[Romans 12:2 NIV] 

 

When we try and follow the pattern of the world, or the pattern that someone else is following, we lose ourselves - our originality and uniqueness.

Make your own pattern. 

 

 

 

Beautiful and Useful

I read this today during my lunch-time perusal of twitter:

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

[William Morris]

 

If I could be anyone in the world, one of the top five contenders would definitely be Cath Kidston: designer and creator of all things fabulously floral and vintage.  Just standing in the shop or browsing through the catalogue makes me feel better.  I am hopeful that, by the slow and steady purchase of many of her gorgeous products, I might - over time - become her, through some sort of osmosis.  I will keep you posted.

 

Don't her products meet both of Morris' requirements: they are both useful and completely beautiful.  Yes, many would argue that a peg bag or a scrubbing brush need not be festooned with flowers, but why not?  Why not enjoy things that are both useful and beautiful, as William Morris urges?  Isn't this the best of both worlds?

 

As I was thinking about this at lunch, I got to thinking, not so much about what I fill my house with, but what I fill my heart and mind with. 

 

How much of that meets those two criteria: to be either useful or beautiful?

 

A lot of the clutter in my heart is neither useful nor beautiful.  It consists of left-over junk from past experiences.  Negative words which have no truth, but which I continue to speak over myself.  False hopes, ruined hopes, past hurts, bad decisions, regrets, grudges.  The list could go on.

 

And these things serve no purpose.  They simply sit in my heart and fester and rot and they stop me from appreciating what is beautiful and good and true.  They taint my vision of the world.

 

Regardless of how all of these things got into my heart - whether by my own mistakes, or someone else's- it is my responsibility to deal with them: to sift out what is useful or beautiful and to keep a tight hold of it.  And to throw out the rest.

 

What is in our heart matters, because it is the source of all life.  Proverbs instructs us,

"Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts."

[Proverbs 4:23 MSG]
 

And David prayed,

"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [...] Create in me a pure heart, O God."

[Psalm 51:6,10 NIV] 

  

Whist I can't yet afford to furnish my whole flat with Cath Kidston's beautiful and useful products, I can choose to furnish my whole heart with that which is both beautiful and useful.