The Other Side

THE OTHER SIDE

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great
deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask
what she was doing. She informed me that she was
embroidering. From the underside I watched her work within the
boundaries of the little round hoop she held in her hand.

I once complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I
sat. She smiled at me, looked down and gently said, “My son,
you go about your playing for a while and when I am finished
with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see
it from my side.”

I wondered why she was using some dark threads along with the
bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A
few minutes passed and then I heard Mother’s voice say, “Son,
come and sit on my knee.”

This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful
flower. I could not believe it because from underneath it had
looked so messy.

Then Mother said to me, “My son, from underneath it did look
messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-
drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it.
Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

Many times through the years I have looked up to God and
asked, “Father, what are You doing?”

He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.”I say, “But it
looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem
so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?”

The Father seems to tell me, “My child, you go about your
business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to
Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from
My side.”