Umpiring Life

I heard a baseball story once that sums up three ways of looking at life. It goes like this: Three umpires are sharing a drink together when one of them brings up an occupational question: How do you call the balls and the strikes?

With a confident smirk the first umpire replies, "Pitchers throw balls and strikes, and I call them exactly as they throw them!"

The second umpire, grimaces and says, "No way. Pitchers throw ball and strikes, but I call them as I see them."

The third umpire shakes his head as he reproves the other two, "You are both dead wrong. While it is true that pitchers throw balls and strikes, they aren't a ball or a strike until I call them."

When we Live in Truth we recognize it isn't what is thrown at us that matters in life. We can be pitched a ball, but whether we call it a strike or a ball is entirely up to us. We are the umpires of our own lives and we make the calls!

Crocheting and Life

Before my battle with Grizelda, I used to crochet a lot. I've made many, many afghans, and the rhythm of my hands as they hook a strand of yarn into a beautiful collage of stitches is extremely relaxing to me. But for some reason ever since Grizelda I haven't crocheted at all until last week when we went on retreat. I can't believe I forgot about how much of a stress release crocheting is.

One of the afghans I did long ago.

the afghans, I love the lessons crocheting teaches me. Crocheting (and a lot of other hand-work) is a lot like life. The afghans I make are a process. They start out as a raw product such as wool on a sheep's back. That wool has to be cut and then washed, carded, spun, and dyed into useable yarn. From that point I take a skein of "string" and using various stitches I hook the yarn in such a way that it becomes a covering that can warm and cuddle and service others. The pattern varies but if handmade even the same pattern will yield variances that give each afghan a beautiful individual identity. Likewise life is a process and if we are patient and submit to the""carding" and "washing" and "dying" and "hooking" and "tying" that are the process of life we become beautiful individuals capable of warming and nurturing others.

But one of the greatest lessons I've learned from crocheting is that if I make a mistake the only way to keep that afghan beautiful is to go back, undo the wrong stitch or stitches and then re-stitch as the pattern directs. It takes time. It's painful to unravel several rows in order to go back to the mistake. It's discouraging. But there is no other way. If you just keep adding rows to the mistake it becomes misshapen, or you have an ugly spot in the afghan that spoils the whole piece.

You already know where I'm going here. Fixing the mistakes in an afghan is like repentance. We can try to move on in life without repenting, but that mistake will affect everything that follows.

I once read that when people sin their emotional growth stops and that's why we find 60 year old people that haven't emotionally matured past 16. But when we repent we alleviate the mistakes of the past so that we can grow and move forward with the pattern of our lives and end up with a beautiful character. Each character will have distinguishing individual talents and abilities, but every one will be beautiful!

I am so happy to be crocheting again!

My Air Traffic Controller

Good morning! Isn't it amazing what a good night's sleep can do for a person!

While traveling yesterday I kept thinking about the methaphors in air travel. As we took off in SLC I could see the air tower and thought about how the air controllers being in that tower and above the ground have a perspective that the pilot does not have. As a matter of fact, the pilot's vision is very limited. But by being connected to the tower the pilot can be warned if there is danger ahead or behind. By listening he can know exactly what to do and when to do it so that the place is able to take off safely. But that isn't all the help the pilot has. He has instruments that give warning and direction and there is a ground grew that signals him where to turn and what to do.

As I watched us take off and land I thought about how I am the pilot of this body and how I have an "air traffic controller," my Heavenly Father who has a perspective I don't have. If I follow His instructions I can be warned and guided. And on the "ground" I have prophets and teachers who are constantly teaching and directing me as to what to do. And like the plane's instruments, I have scriptures that also teach me what to do. But if for some reason I choose to go my own way and refuse the insruction given by either source, I put myself in a dangerous position.

It is so much easier and safer to follow the Air Traffic Controller than it is to try and decide where and how to fly on your own.

My Quilt

Awhile back I told you that I am learning to piece quilts and that I was excited about the quilt I was working on. I told you that if it turned out I'd show it to you. Well yesterday I finished it, and here it is. I took the one-day old pictures of all my children to a copy center and had them reproduced in sepia on fabric, and then I put them in the windows and doors of this house. Over the house the pattern called for a star, but I put an angel there which represents our daughter that died at birth.

I've included two pictures because one shows the quilting stitches that were done by a professional quilter and the other shows the quilt hanging so you can see the full quilt with borders and binding.

To do this quilt I learned to applique and I thank my good friend Roma for patiently teaching me how to do that and another good friend Barbara for guiding and helping me with other quilting things.

It is only my second quilt and it has many mistakes in it and there was a lot of unpicking done in the process, but I learned so much and am so thrilled with it. I've made a family heirloom!

As I said in my entry before, there are so many metaphors between quilting and life. This quilt happened one stitch at a time. I'd get one instruction, do what I was told, and then go back to learn the next thing I needed. It took months, but one step at a time it developed until yesterday when I took the last stitch. I love the feeling of accomplishment and every time I look at this quilt, I'm going to feel the joy all over again.