Devotion from Hannah Myers

I love to craft. Color, texture, and working with my hands brings me such happiness and relaxation…then sharing the finished project with people I love adds another layer of joy. I’ve been on a counted cross-stitch kick lately, creating these “mini masters” works, inspired by true masters of the art world. I can finish one in a few days, during kids’ sports practices and tournaments. And they’re the perfect size to send to my art-loving daughter in college, to brighten her days and dorm room a bit.

These are the perfect portable craft. They’re the perfect size to tuck into a card. They’re perfect. Except they’re not. In counted cross-stitch, you start with blank cloth of woven squares. Looking at a paper pattern, you count the squares and duplicate the pattern in x’s on the squares. It’s easy to miscount. And I’m easily distracted, which makes transferring the pattern more difficult.

I don’t ever realize I’ve made a mistake and miscounted until later, when I’ve moved on to another color and things aren’t matching up right. It makes the rest of the piece more difficult. I can hide the mistakes, but I know they are there. It may look okay to you, but I see every mistake when I look at the finished pieces. And don’t even think about looking at the mess of thread on the backs of the finished works!

As I sat stitching one day, I realized that I am like this work of art. I make mistakes…I sin…each and every day. I cover them up. I work around them. But they’re still there. I can see my sin so glaringly in my life. But you know who doesn’t? God! Because I have trusted God and claimed the promise and salvation of Jesus over my life, God sees me as righteous. He sees me as good. He sees in me the perfection of Christ. He sees YOU that way too. Praise be to God!

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”  - Ephesians 1:4