You might need that. → Alice V. Walters

Dear Reader, have you noticed that sometimes the biggest insights come from the youngest philosophers. You know, the whole “out of the mouths of babes” thing?

When Gracie and I were beginning her quilt, she cut out the pieces (that already had the templates drawn on them). She hadn’t gotten very far in her task when she messed up.

“Messed up” in this OCD fam might be an exaggeration for others. I checked her work and assured her that it was nothing to worry about. I told Gracie that we weren’t going to worry if the quilt was perfect, only that it would keep her warm and that she thought it was pretty.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Apparently I’d forgotten that Gracie has LOTS of words and LOTS of questions. (After all, “inquiring minds want to know”.)

Gracie sits beside me while I sew. She marks off the pieces I’ve sewn together on our diagram (plan), or reads aloud to me, or listens to the family stories she loves. Most of the time it’s a pretty good system for both of us. But sometimes my reading teacher brain overrides my sewing brain and I pay more attention to her reading or questions than I do to sewing.

I’d just finished sewing together two panels and flipped it over to discover I’d put the wrong ends together. Gracie was baffled at how I could fix it. No problemo! I reached into my sewing basket and pulled out my handy dandy seam ripper.

Come, let’s talk this over, says the Lord; no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!
Isaiah 1: 18 TLB

She watched attentively as I carefully ripped out each stitch, then penned the panels together correctly. I started to put the ripper away, when, with all the grace her little heart could muster, Gracie said, “Allie, maybe you better not put it back. You said we weren’t going to worry if we made mistakes, and you might need it again.”

OH MY GOSH!!!

You know what, Dear Reader? I don’t think I will ever look at a seam ripper in quite the same way again. How thankful we can be for a Savior who died and rose again so all our mistakes can be taken care of! And praise God, that sometimes He uses the voices of the ones we love most to remind us of His redeeming love.