It will serve us well to make Jesus Himself
the warp of our tapestry. By our
good habits, we will weave splendid tapestries in the monastery of
the heart!
Jesus is Majesty . . . so we are learning to
live with Him as the KING that He is.
We practice every kind of good demonstration of our joy ... a good King reigns over us! The King of
Glory, no less!
Jesus is Savior . . . we never want to
forget or get careless toward the salvation He bought at such a great
price. We sing of it! We remember Him in our communion and in
the Eucharist. We take up the
privilege of telling others what we know of His power to save, to heal, and to deliver.
Jesus is Friend . . . here is an area where
we can make some defining changes that are both monastic and quite natural for
those who believe in Him. We spend
time with Him, and we take decisive steps against the enemies of our
souls who would destroy this friendship, if we let them.
Jesus is Lord . . . as much as we might talk
with a friend as we walk along the way, and as pleasant as that can be, this Friend
gives us instructions and corrections and assignments, and because we are fully
able to hear and obey, we humble ourselves to listen.
Jesus is the Word of God . . . that’s a
really crucial strand; we won’t have a strong and beautiful and lasting tapestry
without it. What can be known of
God was revealed in Jesus, and what can be known of Jesus is written and
preserved for us. We open our
Bibles and bow before the Person of Jesus, alive to us in Scripture, and we read
and pray until His nature is formed in us.
Jesus is our Bridegroom . . . if there is a
neglected aspect of Jesus’ true identity, this might be it. One day there will be a Wedding Feast
in heaven, and we are not just guests. We are the Bride!
How does a young couple – how did we – behave when we were engaged to be
married? There are some clues for
us in those memories.
Jesus is Redeemer . . . as certainly as He
makes all things new, we begin to live in such a way that we expect that of Him
and direct our prayers toward redemption for those we love and in every
circumstance we face.
As each day unfolds, we will weave with
choice strands of worship and prayer, of hope and joy, of study and obedience, of
stillness and of friendship with God.
Certainly, our tapestry might now look a jumble and unfinished, but when
we seek Him with our whole hearts, when we love as He loved, when we make sure
of those things that take us where we want to go, the result will make heaven
gasp, for the beauty revealed will be the loveliness of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Tapestry, Coventry Cathedral,
by permission, Steve Cadman
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