Piecing With the End In Mind

School has begun. The days are getting shorter, and the pencils meet the paper once again. I have been pondering how all the various pieces of a day will work out in the end. Here I am filling out assignment books, penciling in dates and responsibilities on my calendar, planning how we will fill our minds and hearts with facts and verses. It all seems so much. So many days stretch out endlessly before us. How will we ever learn everything?

In the evenings I spend a few minutes sewing, not as much as on the lazy summer days. It doesn't seem like I am getting very far very fast. I have a whole pile of blocks and pieces of blocks that don't look like anything very special. In fact, the pieces seem like they will never end.

Then I remember...

We learn all these facts, memorize all the verses, stitch all the little pieces, with the end in mind. I long for the day we will all recite our Scripture passages from our hearts because we have put them in our minds. When the children are able to apply their arithmetic to jobs and household duties, I will be thrilled. When my quilt is pieced, quilted, and bound, I will snuggle in it and be comforted by its warmth. I will have forgotten all the pieces and will look at it as an entire, completed, enjoyable work of my hands.

Of course we can't see the entire picture of this school year yet. We just see the pieces. But I pray that we will work with the end in mind. God is faithful who called us to this work, and He will put all the pieces together in an unimaginable, masterful, and breathtaking way.