Cotton: Life Fabric (Week 41)

Story behind the Painting:

My latest creation is a 3 panel acrylic of cotton.  I painted this series for a young lady who is like a daughter to me.  She just graduated from nursing school and is starting her first “career” job today.

This one is for you CT!

  When I asked her what I could paint to bless her new apartment, cotton was the answer.  A nurse who loves nature, the perfect mix of academia and agriculture.

She is radiant, joyful, brilliant, kind and the epitome of compassion. Watch out patients, you are about to be

“loved to life”(a phrase I soaked up from one of my freedom-writing sisters, Toya Poplar 🙂

by a new nurse,

who may be  “clothed in cotton” scrubs but she is held together by the “Scarlett Thread” of Christ!

Take-away Treasures:

As I painted and prayed, I was stirred to investigate cotton.  Most everyone knows the slogan for Cotton Incorporated is “The Fabric Of Our Lives”(https://thefabricofourlives.com ) ;

so I began to search for the spiritual side of this slogan.

As followers of Christ, what is the fabric of our lives?

“For living to me means simply “Christ”…” Philippians 1:21 (Phillips)

And how could this relate to “Cotton”?

I chose 5 characteristics of cotton and sought Christ in each one.

Guess what?

When Jesus said,

“… seek and you will find…” (Matthew 7:7 NIV) 

HE meant it.

 I found Christ in each of the 5 chosen cotton characteristics!

**Good absorbency

Merriam-Webster defines absorbency as the quality or state of being able to draw in or soak up.  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you …” James 4:8 (ESV) It is through Christ that we are able to draw near to God.  Christ is the Bridge of Hope, Who laid down HIS life once and for all to make a way for us back to the Father.

We get to soak up the Father because we have been “soaked in” the Son!

**Color retention

Color retention is the capability of a surface finish to maintain its original shade and intensity over a period of time and/or exposure to sunlight or weather.  Christ never changes, but in Christ, we do. We are made holy in an instant, while being made holy our whole lives.  Christ is radiant and vibrant to the full and in HIM, so are we.  God sees our full potential, our color retention, in Christ, but the world around us will see us ever increasing in radiance and vibrancy as we grow more and more into HIS likeness. It is the dance of salvation and sactificaion!

“There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.” Hebrews 13:8 (MSG)  As for us, as followers of Christ, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” Philippians 1:27 (NIV)

“Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 1:13 (NASB)

**Good strength

I love the Message translation here.  Without Christ, we have no “good strength.” In Christ, HIS “good strength” is made perfect in our weakness!

“My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”
“Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” 2 Cor. 12:9 (MSG)

**Drapes well

Apart from Christ, we are draped in our sin, thus separated from God. In Christ, we are draped in brand new “scrubs” and that is all that God sees!

“…For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness…” Isaiah 61:10 (NLT)

**Easy to handle and sew

“I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.” Col. 2:2-4 (MSG)

I will conclude with a poem by one of my heroes of faith.  She is the epitome of one who lived with Christ as her “LIFE FABRIC”.

Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom (15 April 1892 – 15 April 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker and Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. She was imprisoned for her actions. Her most famous book, The Hiding Place, describes the ordeal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_ten_Boom

“Life is but a Weaving” (the Tapestry Poem)

“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.”

― Corrie ten Boom

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/741391-life-is-but-a-weaving-the-tapestry-poem-my-life

In Christ we are made new.

Our DNA is no longer “M-E” but “H-I-S” and Christ becomes our LIFE FABRIC.