Learning to Love the Thread

NOTE: this is the second part of a column I wrote that was recently published in The Effingham Daily News —

“You have to learn to love the thread,” the sewing teacher said to Rosanne Cash.  Rosanne is a singer-songwriter and a daughter of Johnny Cash and his first wife Vivian.  In a recent interview, Rosanne said her teacher “wasn’t speaking metaphorically, but it just hit me” that the line applied to all of life.

“You have to learn to love the thread” applies to the narrative arc of our own lives.  In the midst of everything else, weaving and holding it all together, there’s a thread of continuity to our biographies.

Discovering and learning “to love the thread” of our lives might mean taking time for reflection and examination.  It may mean you’ll uncover other threads that lead you to talk things through with a trusted counselor.  As a pastor, I hope it means we’ll have a greater appreciation of the extremes to which God goes to reach us where we are and where we’ve been.