Muddied Water

Devotion for the week...

I said a couple of weeks ago that I find the prophets hard to read. Even though that's true, there is obviously value in reading those books, which is proven by the fact that this is another devotion coming from what I've been reading in Ezekiel lately!

Ezekiel 34: 17-22 says: 

"And as for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to his people: I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats. Isn’t it enough for you to keep the best of the pastures for yourselves? Must you also trample down the rest? Isn’t it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Why must my flock eat what you have trampled down and drink water you have fouled?

'"Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will surely judge between the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep. For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands. So I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be abused. I will judge between one animal of the flock and another."

If you've ever wondered how God feels about society's 'me first' focus, these verses should clear that up pretty quickly. This message wasn't aimed at the religious leaders (that was covered in previous verses); instead, it's aimed at everyday people like you and me. God wanted them (and us) to know in no uncertain terms that their habit of taking the best for themselves and ruining what they left behind was not right.

When I read 'Isn’t it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?' all I could think about what the plastic pollution in our oceans. I don't have a clear understanding of how that affects communities in other countries, but I know it's nothing good.

Most of us would fit into the category of the 'fat sheep' of this world. We have a roof over our heads,  enough food to fill our bellies, more clothes than we reasonably need, and more besides. While we're not actively going out and trampling the harvest in other parts of the world, are our choices negatively affecting other people? 

My First Quilt with Rianne Doller

I'm not entirely sure where March went 😆 Here we are at the last Friday of the month, though, which means it's time for a My First Quilt interview! This month we get to learn about Rianne Doller's first quilt.

As a quilter, Rianne shares her love for storytelling, art, community, and nature in the works she creates. For the nature and community aspect, she finished two master degrees. For all the other things, she started a social enterprise called Kick Ass Quilts. With tutorials, stories, and community projects, she spreads the magic of eco-conscious quilting!

You can connect with Rianne at her website, on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Patreon.

And now, here is Rianne and her first quilt! It's so scrappy and fun 😍

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?

I think it was around 2015 when I was doing my first master's thesis. Although I love the whole researching thing, it was a challenging time for me because I had to do many social things that scared me. Quilting helped me to relax and also offered a way to escape. I could create something that made my brain happy. And I could forget about my thesis doing the mindfulness quilting work because my first quilt had MANY small pieces. 

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?

I made templates by hand from cardboard. I drew all the pieces and pieced them together by patchwork. 

The quilt was quilted by myself by hand. 

This quilt was also my first step into experimenting with quilting with all kinds of fabrics. Because people kept telling me you couldn't quilt with x or Y and, being the headstrong student I was, I wanted to prove them otherwise :P. So I asked for textiles on FB and I raided my mom's quilting scraps and this quilt was born!

Furthermore, in this quilt, I learned basic scrap quilt principles and colour theory. Especially the concept that every quilt becomes a whole if there is a red thread in the fabrics chosen. Which, coincidentally, in this quilt was a specific red fabric!

Who taught you to make the quilt?

I taught myself based on the quilting basics my mom taught me. I always love figuring out my own quilting designs with graph paper. 

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?

Yes, I still love scrap quilts. However, if I would make this quilt again, it would probably be a bit more calm. 

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?

Yes! Quilting works very well for my brain. Since I properly started, it has been my way of making sense of the world around me. And to express my care for people and the world with the quilts I make. It makes me happy that these days I have much more social confidence and I can spread the magic of quilting with others! With tutorials, networking, community projects and more!

Where is the quilt now?

In my home. I still use it in self-care, healing sessions and empowerment for myself. 

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?

Yes, your seams should be at least half a centimeter big!

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?

I really made this quilt with full confidence in myself and zero restrictions. This helped me a lot to discover my own creativity and to find creative freedom in the art of quilting. This helped me a lot to become the quilt artist and confident person I am today!

So I encourage everyone to go for it if you have a crazy quilting idea! It'll probably work out, and they make the most fun personal crazy interesting quilts!

Thanks, Rianne for sharing the story of your first quilt with us!

It's Not Fair!

Devotion for the week...

It has been a busy week, so writing a devotion for today ended up on the back burner. Good thing I have a treasure trove of previously loved devotions to pull from when I need to! Here's one from March 2015. Thankfully I'm no longer working in childcare, but the illustrations from those years still hold true 😊

________________

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, then you probably know I spend my days in the company of the four kids I babysit, while my own kids are in school. I have been around little ones for almost 13 years straight, and I have noticed that they really like for things to be fair, especially when it comes to food.

Don't give one child two pieces of a broken cookie and the other child a full cookie unless you're willing to hear, "Why does he get two cookies?" Be sure the pieces of cake you cut look pretty much the same, or there will be complaints about someone getting a bigger piece. And for goodness sake, make sure when you give out a handful of crackers that everyone either has the same number, or they have so many they're not going to bother counting!

They like things to be fair when it comes to taking turns with the best toys too. Everyone needs to have the same number of turns, and for the same amount of time. While I have never actually set a timer to be sure each child gets 5 minutes with the coveted toy, I know mothers who do in order to keep the peace and save their own sanity.

While we as adults know that fair doesn't always mean exactly the same, we like for things to be fair too. We want people to be paid a fair wage, for companies to be fair and honest in their advertising, for sports teams to follow the rules. We want to be given the same opportunities as others, regardless of our race, religion or gender. When these things don't happen, we too are quick to say, "That's not fair!"

Sometimes 'not fair' works in our favour, and then we're not quite so quick to protest the unfairness of the situation. That is certainly the case when it comes to our salvation. Jesus was perfect, completely without sin, and it was He who paid the price for our sins. He had never done anything wrong, and yet He was brutally beaten and murdered.

The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death," (Romans 6:23). It also says, "The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!" (Psalm 14:2-3). Everyone is turned away from God, everyone is corrupt, and no one does good. That is the natural inclination of every human heart, and for that we all deserve death. That would be the fair outcome of our lives.

But that isn't what we get.

Jesus came for us. He came to rescue us and free us from that death sentence. How? "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because Jesus was perfect, He alone was qualified to be the sacrifice that would pay for our sin. He took the sin of the entire world on Himself and paid the penalty of death for it. That's the most unfair transaction ever!