The Master Weaver

I did not post last week as my mind was preoccupied with plans for my daughter’s graduation from the Liberty School of Aeronautics FAA airframe & powerplant certificate program.  She earned her private pilot’s license more than a year ago and she decided that her next step was aircraft maintenance.  In a few short weeks she will begin work in an aviation maintenance shop.  She loves airplanes.  You can see it in her radiance as she sits on the wing of a plane, and in her inquisitive look when she hears a plane fly overhead, and in her excited chatter about King Airs and trim tabs.  She loves the maintenance side of aviation.  Her eyes light up when she talks of name brand tools like Snap-on and Fluke and of sheet metal and rivets.  I love her enthusiasm even if I don’t always understand the terms or significance of what she shares.

This was not part of my plan when I first held her in my arms on a sunny Sunday morning in May twenty-one years ago.  I don’t think I really had any definite plans in those early days and years of her life, but God did.  Psalm 139 assures me that He formed her inward parts and knit her together in my womb.  She is indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.  She was intricately woven by His loving hands and in His book were written the days that were formed for her when as yet there was none of them.  It is amazing to consider the fact that He formed her.  He knit her together.  He wove her intricately to be the person He planned her to be.  He formed her determined and fiery spirit.  He knit her enthusiastic and adventurous nature.  He wove her with the abilities needed to accomplish His purpose and design for her life.

He is indeed the Master Weaver who has a purpose and design for each child’s life.  He allows us as mothers and fathers to take a part in the weaving process.  As I wrote in my last post, this is an awesome responsibility.  We must seek His wisdom and direction as we move the shuttle across the colored threads.  We must teach our children to seek His guidance as well.  As Ravi Zacharias writes, “we are called to see the gracious hand of a designing God in our lives.  We are called to respond to God’s nod.  He holds the threads.  .  .  The design is beautiful.  The promise is sure.  The end result is profound.  The answers will all be there.  But the condition is clear; we must search for God with all our hearts.”  

As my daughter prepares the shuttle for the next row in the design, I am secure in the knowledge that God knows her more than I can ever know her.  He loves her more than I can ever love her.  I am awed by this fact.  I am awed by the precious and vast sum of thoughts He has of her.  He has searched her and known her intimately.  He is acquainted with all her ways.  He lays His hand upon her.  My heart echoes the praise of the Psalmist when he writes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”   I feel at peace as I leave the tapestry of her life in His hands.  I know that He will guide and keep her in His loving care.  He knows the rest of the design and it is beautiful.