Like Wool

(Vicki made the first two pieces. The others are my work, but need to be finished into a bag and an eyeglass case.)

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18 (NIV)

Today was a delightful day, full of all the things I love. It started with the privilege of teaching Sunday School. I enjoy teaching, and sometimes, wish I had chosen it as my career. However, I do not like the things that go with teaching: meal tickets, attendance, report cards, angry parents. Even a Sunday School teacher invests a lot of time and energy that I do not have working full time. A really good Sunday School teacher needs to be available to her students, build relationships with them, encourage them when they are down, rejoice with them when times are good and hold them accountable to be obedient to God at all times. In my career as a historian, and sometimes when a substitute Sunday School teacher is needed, I get the thrill of pulling a lesson together and sharing it with a class. Today, we studied Isaiah and how his ministry changed when he found himself face to face with God. We learned that having a close relationship with God keeps us obedient, humble and willing servants. I was thinking about that this afternoon when my friend, Vicki, came down to teach a class on felting. Vicki (http://amarkonmywall.wordpress.com) is a great teacher, and soon we were blending wool fibers mixed with soap and hot water by patting, rubbing and then, beating it into a single sheet of fabric. It is an amazing process. Vicki instructed us that the cuticle of the hair follicles actually grab onto each other almost as though they are holding hands gripping together tightly. Vicki started us out with making a button, then, we progressed to pulling undyed, white wool and working it into felt. Finally, we progressed to using colored wool and making a pattern to be used as table runners, coasters, wall hangings or a simple bag. As we worked side by side under Vicki’s tutelage, the same thing happened among the women around the table. We chatted away as only friends can do. We encouraged and helped each other, commiserated when the wind blew our work away and oohed and awed over everyone’s efforts. When we left to go, new bonds were created along with our artwork. We all want to do it again when Vicki returns next Fall. The above verse was part of our Sunday School lesson today. We made things out of white wool and the contrast to the crimson is a striking reminder of the stain of our sinful lives compared to God’s holiness. And yet, the Creator of the Universe, the Almighty, All Powerful God, wants to cleanse us from our sin and then, sit down and talk with us. Imagine! Like a chatty table of woman creating fabric from fiber, God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. What a great way to spend Palm Sunday and the beginning of Easter week. Like the wool, I want to be clean and molded into the woman my Creator wants me to be.