Letting Go and Being Remade
Editor’s Note: Programs Associate Katie Rotterman reflects on how her experience as a crafter challenges her to let go of her ideas for her life and instead let God form her in Christ.
“For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” – Ephesians 2:10
In the height of my knitting craze in college, I knitted myself a pair of neon purple leg warmers. They were a little too big and a little too long so I had to use elastic bands to keep them up, but I loved those leg warmers. They were fabulous, at least in my eyes.
When I graduated from college and began working I stashed them away in a drawer for some time in the future. Neon purple leg warmers weren’t quite business casual but I hoped for a day when they would be wardrobe appropriate again. I found them again this past summer, almost three years after I had made them, and they still served no real purpose. At least not as leg warmers.
I had recently started working on a blanket, one of the biggest projects I had ever attempted, and I knew the yarn would add some gorgeous color to the project. So I brought those leg warmers back to DC with me, unraveled them and worked them into something that actually fit me and my life.
The finished product
Looking at myself as a work of art in God’s hands helps me to better see and understand myself as God’s creation. I understand what it’s like to create: the work and care that goes into every project, the frustrations with projects that are calmed by a love of creating, and the sheer joy and pride in seeing the finished project. I also know the importance of letting go of projects and visions so that more beautiful ones can come into being.
The neon purple yarn made some quality leg warmers, but it looks much better as part of my now completed blanket. I wouldn’t have guessed that they would eventually get unraveled and become part of a blanket. But I also would not have guessed that I would be in DC a few years after graduating still in a year of service and now applying for jobs to stay in the district.
Letting go of how I originally thought that yarn should be used yielded beautiful results. The challenge now is in letting go of how I think my life should go and my skills should be used, and letting Christ decide, letting myself be knitted into the beautiful creation He knows I can be.
Reflection Question: How can you change your perspective in order to appreciate the beauty in past experiences, but not unnecessarily cling to them?
Featured image: adaptation of photo by Pixabay user mashko-apchi – labeled for reuse
