It All Began With AFGHANS

I don't remember being taught to knit; I just know that at some point in my early childhood my mother passed along her skill to the three of us, my brother, sister, and I. We made the obligatory beginner slippers by the boatload, and then I began making afghans. I remember the joy of the entire process, the weekend shopping excursions with my dad to buy the yarn, the joy of watching weekend football with him while knitting square after square, the delight in the final product when the individual squares were finally sewn together. I finished several before packing my knitting needles away later in life, but the one that stands out the most to me was the one I made for him to use when an aching back forced him every night to move from his bed to the living room couch. Surprisingly, he didn't use that one, saying (to my mother's horror!) that he wanted to save it and be wrapped in it when he passed from this life on to the next.

Once I picked up the hobby again, it wasn't in my plan to knit any more afghans. But as the end of last year approached, my future daughter-in-law, a new knitting enthusiast, told me she was going to make one in 2017, knitting two blocks a month, and that I was going to join her in this endeavor! My fondness for her found me eagerly signing on. Every month now she posts the latest pattern, and we get to work, sending picture texts throughout the thirty days to keep each other posted on our progress. Now three months behind us, we each have a growing stack of blocks completed and are eagerly engaged in the project. In fact, we've already made plans for next year, when we plan to each knit a temperature blanket, an afghan knit one row per day in a color determined by the day's temperature!

I think what appeals to me about the process of knitting an afghan is the long-term aspect of the project. It's not something you decide to do one day and are done with a couple of days later. It requires commitment and perseverance if the end result is to be something beautiful and useful, rather than just a bunch of abandoned balls of yarn stuffed in a closet somewhere.

In the same way, a relationship with God isn't something that's developed overnight. It requires the daily discipline of time spent together and experiences shared that over time develops into something that wraps you in layers of comfort and love and carries you into eternity. It's a joy that's meant to be shared with others as you daily delight in your Father's love.

If that's the case, I think I will be happily knitting afghans of one sort or another till the day I die.

"My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up."

(Psalm 5:3 NKJV)