Oh the joy of being able to shout IT IS FINISHED! For several months I had been diligently knitting a baby blanket for our newborn grandson. Knowing baby’s come in small sizes, I thought a blanket would be a simple project for an inexperienced knitter, such as myself.

Deception comes in many ways. With prideful confidence I left the knitting shop with a huge shopping bag filled with 13 balls of 2 different colors of yarn, 2 different sizes of needles, and a pattern book with delightful photos of adorable infants wrapped in or wearing “simple knitting projects”

I launched into knitting the blanket’s basic border with great enthusiasm. From there I discovered my “simple project” was actually a complicated herringbone type pattern. Stitches varied in increase and decrease from row to row. This was definitely not something I could work on in public. The stress of keeping 221 stitches in order was not what I had envisioned. The worse part was discovering whenever the pattern had become wobbly and not knowing why. It seemed unfair after so much tedious work to be confronted with a major decision. Should I unravel row after row, find the problem and correct it, or just keep working? After all, this was a baby blanket, not something to give him when he was 14yrs old. Besides how concerned would a tiny baby be with my knitting imperfections?

The finished blanket was to be approximately 42″ square. Somehow my mind had not calculated how big that would actually be. This revelation alone was enough to make me want to over look the pattern irregularities and just keep knitting.
However, it soon became apparent there are no shortcuts….unintentional decrease or increase of stitches, if not corrected, resulted in an hourglass shaped blanket. It didn’t seem right to wrap the kid up in what was looking more like a hot dog bun than a blanket.

Somewhere along the way – in the tedious backtracking to correct my mistakes, a particular bible verse came to my mind. PSALM 139:13,14

“13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Wow – suddenly I had a picture of our heavenly Father, carefully knitting each stitch (ie us – an Image of Himself) with unwavering precision, and securing us in our mother’s womb. My knitting experience gave me a revelation of how precious the time of our conception is and a deeper understanding of the love with which our Father united His Spirit with our flesh. The perfection with which He created us was far beyond what I hoped to achieve in my blanket!

Finally, the pattern was completed and blanket was finished! What looks like an ordinary baby blanket is priceless in my eyes. It represents untold hours of knitting, correcting, and re-knitting….truly a labor of love! How much more the significance of Jesus’ victory on the cross when He cried out “It is finished.” I can almost catch a glimpse of His excitement and passion ….knowing the destiny of each one of us whom He knit together, that He was even willing to give up His very life!

Know today how precious you are to your heavenly Father!
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. . . ” Jeremiah 31:3