This Weaving

Acts of intimacy weave us together. They transform ‘You’ and ‘I’ into ‘Us’ and ‘We.’
Acts like:

• Laughing together

• Sharing a meal

• Weeping into each other’s arms

All of these are acts of intimacy.

Yes, sensual intimacy knits and binds, but so does worshipping together or praying with one another. Delivering a plate of cookies to a friend who needs a reminder that someone sees them and cares is intimate. Seeing into someone’s heartache and pain is incredibly intimate.

All this weaving together, especially of God’s people into a tapestry to His glory forever, is like a banner waving. Our relationships with each other are like patches or blocks in the quilt of His making. Or perhaps threads on a loom as we weave in and out of each other’s day or life. Every tearing asunder of a marriage, each bitter dispute between siblings, or the breaking apart of God’s children out of relationship shreds the fabric of the tapestry. It is only by His grace and mercy that it waves still.

It is tattered from battle, yet somehow His glorious presence bursts through the holes, tears, and shredded fabric to remind us of His promise to make all things new.

A battle rages. A battle for the souls of man or to steal his eternal rewards. The Enemy, our enemy, has only intentions to kill, rob, and destroy. He tries to persuade us the fight is with one another. God tells us in Ephesians, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Those powers whisper doubts of God’s truth, His character, and His love for us.

I find the frontline is most often within our own minds. We fight to hold on to what is true and not be formed by feelings. We fight against our own hard hearts that aren’t naturally inclined to forgive others as easily as we forgive ourselves.

How do we fight this battle?

We battle when we praise God for who He is and what He has done for us in the presence of mind-numbing pain and devastating heartache. We fight back when we are grateful for all we have received, but even more so when we are grateful, with hope, for what is yet unrealized. Our minds and emotions are bludgeoned. Our bodies feel as though they can barely stand. Yet the sacrifice of our fleshly desire for Godly gain produces a precious gem—created by the intensity of having to make a costly choice of choosing the One who chose us first and paid the highest cost of all… resisting sin to the point of death, yes, death on a cross.

Our praise, prayers, and petitions in the midst of gut wrenching challenges, questions still waiting for answers, and relationships seemingly far from being mended? These are the tears collected. These are the treasures stored in heaven. The choice to strengthen the banner so it flies high and proud as a beacon to the lost.