HOLY THREADS

When it came time to choose a name for my practice in spiritual direction, there wasn’t really a question for me. It was the threads of the story that shimmered to me. 

My mother was amazing with a needle and thread, but I never developed her skills. The threads I follow are those of sacred story. They are a tangled mess sometimes but we tug and pull and find that God is in each and every tangle. 

This poem appeared in my inbox this week as the story of Tabitha is the focus of the Revised Common Lectionary for this Sunday. Tabitha finds new life, as it still the Easter season. There need to be more stories of resurrection but it happens within the upstairs room among the bolts of fabrics and tangled threads of Dorca’s handiwork. Peter pushes all of those beautiful tunics aside to focus on Tabitha. I wonder about the threads that hung off their clothes as Tabitha opened her eyes and got up. These feel holy and full of wonder. 

I love this poem as it describes so much of what I believe spiritual direction is about. I feel that tug in every story though it is so hard to hold. It still takes hold of us, shaping us and forming us. We are woven in such wonder.

What holy threads are you finding on the hem of your tunics as you rise to breathe into a new day?