Patches

I was putting patches on some hand-me-down jeans for Katrina yesterday. You know me, I was busy with a mundane task with these deep undercurrents of thought running through my brain. I was considering those jeans, well-loved by some other little girl, now to be repaired, patched up and tailored for my little girl to love. You could tell which jeans were hardly worn (knees in near-new condition), which were worn quite a bit (a hole in one knee), and those that were favorites (knees obliterated and needing extensive patching - or suitable only as "cut offs"). My body is kind of like that. I started out glowing, pink, healthy, beautiful, with not a mark on me. Now I have a patch here and there where I've worn through or needed some tailoring. In a spiritual sense, this is a sign of how well-loved I am. My Father in heaven is taking time to tailor me, snip a little here, add some new fabric there, as a sign of His investment in me, His care for me. It takes a little extra work, but my tests and trials, pain and suffering are not a punishment - they are a blessing that is lending new richness and character to myself and everyone who knows me. Some people might say those old, holey jeans were worthless and should have been thrown out. My daughter, who likes everything better old, just like her Mama, thinks otherwise: these are comfortable and they have character because of the funny little patches on them. I praise God that I am still worth the extra work in His gracious eyes.
He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' " Luke 5:36-39