Today we had our annual Christmas Boutique at our church! What I am posting is one of the things I decided to make. Last month I attended a leadership conference that was, well, life changing. One of the classes I sat in was "balancing you home and ministries'. Who does't need to sit in that, right? Well the wonderful Jeannette Walls (Pastor Randy Walls' wife) spoke and mid way spoke about when us moms have the "whoa is me" syndrome. You know when the kids don't appreciate what you do for them, your tired, your husband hasn't said what a great job you do.... those days. She went on to say that when that happens to just think about Jesus. He knew His destiny, He knew His friends would betray Him and deny Him, He knew that He was going to die an unjust death...yet He still knelt down and washed the feet of those same friends. Who are we to think that we deserve more or better then Jesus did. Our husband, our children are our first ministry. Jeannette also said "This is not a dress rehearsal, this is the real deal." We don't get a second chance to show THEM the love of Jesus and impact their life to love and adore our wonderful Father.
In my quest to remember this myself, DAILY, I decided to make this towel. I wept as I made it and decided to make more and have them at my boutique sale. I want to comment that the burlap on the towel is pretty significant as well. In getting inspired I decided to find the right fabric, a towel for "washing" and then burlap. Burlap, due to its coarse texture, it is not commonly used in modern apparel. However, this roughness gave it a use in a religious context for mortification of the flesh, where individuals may wear an abrasive shirt called a cilice or "hairshirt" and in the wearing of "sackcloth" on Ash Wednesday. Mortification of the flesh literally means "putting the flesh to death".
Wow, really? Like I said, I wept as I was sewing. Even in crafting, you labor, you get burned, cut, pricked, you bleed, which is a great reminder that what we do out of LOVE is truly meant to be done IN love and even when we do get hurt, the end result was all worth it. Sometimes while crafting, with hurting hands, I have a smile and I can't help be giddy about how it will turn out, not even noticing the pain after a while. Can't that be my attitude all the time when I get "pricked" in my day to day life? I hope this towel is a reminder for me as I stare at it in my kitchen.
To those that bought the towel.... enjoy! I hope you too are reminded of this daily.
(By the way, I will post later on the graphics. DIY print on fabric with spray mount glue and your home printer!!)
