What I'm Working On This Week

I've been working on a new stitching project from Shepherd's Fold called Reach. 

I picked up this kit at Designer's Desk in Geneva. It holds a stitching ruler, with a pattern that folds over and is worked on both sides of the linen. 32 count linen. That's some small work for these old eyes, my friends! Notice the cheaters in the previous photo. Very necessary!

I loved the beautiful colors used in this project. Overdyed floss is so pretty. I'm stitching this pattern according to directions...one strand of floss over two linen threads. Normally, I'd use two strands of floss for something more substantial. But the one strand gives this project a fine and delicate look, similar to a period piece. I suppose that one strand of floss probably helps the linen from getting pulled too tightly as well.

Just before I started this pattern, my Mom called and told me to read this book. Max Lucado's "Safe in the Shepherd's Arms" is a small devotional that highlights passages from many of his books into a cohesive study of the twenty-third Psalm. The photos in this book are just beautiful. I confess to having a weakness for sheep. That's one of the reasons I picked up the pattern to stitch!

It was so nice to read from the book and then stitch this project while I meditated on the words.

When you spend a lifetime in the Word, some passages become so familiar that you can recite them without much thought. That's true for many people when it comes to this psalm. But every now and then, you can read something that gives a new insight and allows the word to fall fresh on you in a way it may not have done before. Like this:

"David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. It's as if he's saying, 'What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life.' "

Wow. Those are powerful words.

This summer, our Pastor is doing a sermon series on the Psalms, and we are reading through them together as a congregation. And this coming Sunday's sermon is...you guessed it. Psalm 23.

Everything's coming up sheep this week.

Perhaps God is telling me something. And maybe these words from Max Lucado are what He's trying to tell me:

"The psalmist rejoiced to say 'The Lord is my Shepherd,' and in so doing he proudly implied 'I am his sheep.' "

Blessings, cafe friends!