They say that the most magnificent saris ever made are hand-woven in the city of Varanasi, the cultural capital of India. These beautiful dresses–with their gold and silver, the reds and the blues—are often chosen to bedeck brides all over the nation.

Most interesting is the fact that these saris are usually made by just two people–

…a father who sits on a platform and a son who sits two steps down from him. The father has all the spools of silk threads around him. As he begins to pull the threads together, he nods, and the son responds by moving the shuttle from one side to the other. Then the process begins again, with the dad nodding and the son responding. Everything is done with a simple nod from the father. It’s a long, tedious process to watch. But if you come back in two or three weeks, you’ll see a magnificent pattern emerging.[1]

If only we would let God direct the weaving of our lives in the same way, with Him choosing the pattern and the colors that will result in the end purpose for which He created us. “We may be moving the shuttle, but the design is in the mind of the Father. The son has no idea what pattern is emerging. He just responds to the father’s nod.” [2]

 

You can imagine how frustrated the father would be if his son refused to follow his direction. Perhaps the son would balk at using any dark threads at all and insist on using only gold. Yet, anyone who does creative arts knows that the dark tones are what make the bright colors so beautiful.

We do best to leave the direction of our lives to the Lord, who declares, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go” (Isaiah 48:17).

[1] Dr. Ravi Zacharias with R.S.B. Sawyer, Walking from East to West (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006) 27.

[2] Ibid.