Woven by the Maker

READ: JEREMIAH 18:1-6; EZEKIEL 36:26; 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18

Tamora’s orange eyes were wide with excitement. Today, Grandmother would teach her how to weave a sala basket, a rite of passage in her village on a planet in the Cloudina Galaxy. Tamora watched Grandmother’s wrinkled purple hands lift a bucket filled with water and colorful qasab reeds out of the wash basin. “Watch carefully now,” said Grandmother. She demonstrated how to bend the reeds and explained the ancient weaving pattern, more intricate than any Tamora had learned before. Soon Tamora was ready to begin her own basket.

“That’s the way,” Grandmother said after Tamora had completed several rows. Tamora beamed and then returned to weaving, stopping only now and then to ask Grandmother for help. After a while, Tamora said, “This reed is not bending well.” She was holding the last one from the pile Grandmother had made when they began.

“Let me see.” Grandmother inspected the blue reed. “This reed is too dry. You need to put it back in the water and get a different one. It’s important to keep your reeds wet.” After switching reeds, Tamora began weaving easily again. Grandmother smiled and leaned back. “When I weave with qasab reeds, I’m often reminded of what the Maker does for us.” Tamora raised her eyebrows as Grandmother took a reed from the basin. With a twinkle in her eye, she continued, “We can all be like that dry, unbendable reed, stubbornly insisting on our own way instead of trusting our Maker to guide and shape us. But just like a basket weaver wets unbendable reeds to work with them, the Maker’s Spirit softens our hearts in the waters of His love and sacrifice for us, making us humble and pliable. Then, He can form us into people who love well.”

“The Maker sounds like a potter,” said Tamora. “My friend Gamal was telling me that dry, hard clay can be made soft and moldable again by soaking it in water. Then the potter can shape it into something beautiful and purposeful.”

“Indeed,” said Grandmother. “Every time you look at your basket, you can remember the Maker’s presence and love in your life. Because you and I belong to Him, let us be like damp reeds or soft clay, trusting Him to shape us.” • A. W. Smith

• If you know Jesus, how have you seen Him change and mold you? In what ways do you love God and other people more than when you began your journey with God? (Matthew 22:36-40)

…O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. Isaiah 64:8 (NLT)