My grandmother was a character to say the least. She had a true pioneer spirit and was as tough as nails. She loved to fish with a passion matched only by her hate of armadillos. The older I get, the more I realize how much I learned from her without really knowing that she was teaching me. She was a very talented seamstress and a creative force. She instilled in me a love of sewing and all kinds of stitchery, including: crochet, crewel, embroidery, needlepoint, and cross-stitch. She took it upon herself to teach me. I shall never forget our crochet sessions that went something like this. After showing me what to do, she would give me an assignment. For example, she would tell me to have completed 10 rows of crochet by the following week. I would return with project in hand for her inspection. More often than not, she would rip out every stitch that I had sewn and say, “Start over.”
There were two mistakes that I made that she would not tolerate. I was careless about the consistency of my stitches. Some would be extremely tight and others would be extremely loose. The other thing I stayed in trouble over, was adding stitches where they did not belong. Either way, had those two problems been overlooked, I would have ended up with a misshapen, unrecognizable project. However frustrating for me that it was, and believe me, IT WAS, I learned a great deal from those exercises. The things that she taught me about sewing have been easily translated into other areas of my life, especially in my spiritual walk.
As a Christian, my walk must be consistent for others to follow. If my walk is too “loose” or I have one foot in the world and one in the church, I blend in with the world and my witness becomes unappealing to those who are struggling to find something of worth. If my walk is to “tight”, I become pharisaical. When I make a practice of constantly pointing out when and where others fall short in their walk with Christ, I set my own self up for a major fall. If I judge others, Scripture explicitly tells me I will be judged by the same measure. Regardless, the outcome is that I drive others away.
As a Christian, I should not add anything to my witness. I must not be guilty of adding in my abilities or my works. If I rely on anything other than Christ in me, the hope of glory, then I provide a warped view of Christ to those whom I am trying to witness. Whether I am inconsistent in my walk or am guilty of “adding” unnecessarily to my witness, the result is the same—what I leave others with is a misshapen, unrecognizable Jesus.
If there was an overall idea that my Granny Jessie taught me, it was excellence. She was all about doing the job – well.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.
