麻豆约拍

Good morning. When you鈥檙e interested in something, it seems to me that you tend to see it everywhere. I have an eye for pieces of damaged or unfinished embroidery such as a tray cloth with ripped stitches, a half-embroidered tablecloth or an old cushion cover. Often they鈥檙e everyday domestic items but someone has lavished imagination and care on them to make that pillowcase or that apron a bit more beautiful.

I鈥檝e always been fascinated at how a plain piece of cloth can be transformed into something lovely by laying down threads in a pattern, one stitch at a time. I learn new embroidery techniques by repairing damaged pieces. By examining original work I can figure out how it was done.

Once, I found a marvellous piece of embroidery that had been framed like a painting and made into the base for a tray but the wood had splintered and so the tray had been thrown out. The needlework is a wonderful depiction of sprays of pine cones. The threads chosen are in such subtle variations of colour, and the stitches are layered so cleverly, that each cone looks as unique and knobbly as something just picked from the forest floor. I can almost smell them.

But the back of this masterpiece is a jumble of knots and criss-crossings and loose ends. Whoever made it was prepared to stitch and unstitch till the effect was right. The beautiful surface hides all the trial and error that went into its making.

False starts and mistakes are part of life.聽 Painful but we learn from them.聽聽 God, I believe, sees our good will and the good we do as well as our failures. Even when we feel discouraged in the thick of things that have gone wrong he sees the bigger picture and invites us to start out again towards what鈥檚 good and right, buoyed up by his love for us.

Lord God, every aspect of our lives is in your care. Help us to persevere in love for you and our neighbours, today and every day. Amen