I enjoy a beautiful book. Okay, I love a beautiful book! I am a visual person so the beauty of the cover of a book invites me to open it and enjoy the bountiful resources within! I enjoy listening to someone who has something valuable to share and so the experience of reading a good book is like the experience of a good conversation. Since I enjoy sewing and love the beauty and feel of fabrics, the above book by French author Francoise de Bonneville, THE BOOK OF FINE LINEN caught my eye a few years ago on a holiday visit with my daughter, Kacie, when she was living in Key Biscayne, Florida. The book weaves the story of linen and how fragments of linen fabric that are magnificent on the bolt are embraced by a seamstress and brought to life with the greatest of accomplishment and skill! The stitches and embroidered monograms are skillfully and beautifully detailed until the fragments become much sought after "fine linens". Batiste, embroidery, lawn, and lace have always fascinated me and others who share a passion for sewing and creating beautiful treasures for others to enjoy! Over time linens become fragile from use and from cleaning so today "antique linens" are a much sought after treasure in antique markets and boutiques. I enjoy searching a market for a treasure and if I am fortunate and find a linen piece then it is BLISS! If it is fragile, I know I can bring it back to life!
Life is fragile too. Life can become fragmented.......broken, it may seem, into pieces. Brokenness is not always visable to the eye. A wise and trusted friend takes the time to see....to listen....to care......truly care. Sort of like the handling of this fine linen, handled correctly and in tender ways, the treasured piece can be brought back to life and the stains once visible can be washed away. Such joy emerges! Joy is that sense that says.....all in the world is going to be all right. A person with JOY approaches each day and circumstance in child-like trust. They do not loose this spirit of joy when things are fragmented in their lives. They possess an underlying peace that God is in control. "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands." Psalm 138:8 God has a beautiful plan for every life no matter how many fragments a life has been broken into, or stained, or used. His plan is to take the discarded and fragmented pieces and place them all in His loving hands so that He can finish and accomplish, and perfect His work in a life. He continues this glorious work until it is absolutely and completely a masterpiece! After all, God has a purpose in the fragments that remain too......."Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." John 6:12 God does not waste one experience in our lives......ever! When He finishes, you will have a beautiful monogram all your own treasured by those in your life!
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