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I once knew a lady who made beautiful handmade quilts. Her skillful
fingers guided the needle through the bright pieces of cloth, each
stitch small, uniform, and straight. Her artistic mind blended the
shapes and colors together into marvelous patterns and rainbows. Her
quilts could have been sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars. They
would have won prizes at county fairs or craft shows.
But they never did. Why? Because instead of proudly showing off her
quilts, the lady preferred to point out their imperfections. "There’s a
couple of stitches out of line on the top flower," she’d say, or "I
never did get the colors to match like I wanted them to."
In her mind the quality of her work had nothing to do with how others
saw it, but only with how she saw it. And she was her own worst critic.
Instead of hearing the accolades, all she heard was the negativism of
her own voice.
Building a community is a little like quilt making. Regardless of how
careful the citizens may be, no society is perfect. City hall sometimes
makes imperfect decisions, police sometimes make wrong judgments,
schools sometimes overlook the needs of some students, and churches
sometimes do not practice all they preach.
So what shall we do? Jump up and down and tell everyone how imperfect
our world is? There is nothing wrong with working in a respectful way to
make where we live or work a better place. But sometimes our real
problem is that we dwell on the negatives so long that we convince
ourselves that the more numerous positive things of life do not even
exist.
We could all point out many imperfections around us; we all see missed
stitches in the quilt of life. While I’m not for accepting mediocrity or
corruption, sometimes the best thing to do is to just ignore the
negative and focus on the positive.
Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth
for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew
5:38-39)
The reason Jesus tells us not to struggle against some persons and
causes is not just for their good. It is for our good as well. If we get
into a fight we may be the ones that become wounded. Not just our
bodies, but also our attitudes. Once our attitudes become bruised, the
rest of the world begins to appear black and blue.
If everyone tried to right every wrong by practicing an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth it would only be a matter of time until we all
became blind and toothless. For the good of our own spiritual and mental
health we must learn to work to make our communities better without
having a spiteful attitude.
The Bible says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under heaven: a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to
tear down and a time to build...a time to be silent and a time to speak…
(Ecclesiastics 3:1-8). In other words, while there may be times we are
to speak up and try to fix things, there are many other times when we
should just forgive and move on. Perfection belongs to God alone.
Paul Jetter, Upper Valley Community Church |
