"What's this?" Joanne pointed to the blue lines that meandered around Polly's quilt.

"They're washable marks to guide my quilting stitches." Polly showed Joanne a section where she had already stitched the lines with white thread on the white muslin.

"But it doesn't have any design or consistent patter. It just wanders around. Sorta reminds me of the lines my kindergartner scribbles all over her paper before she fills them in with her crayons."

"Maybe it's a motch above a kindergarten scribble." Polly decided not to take offense. "You'll notice none of the lines cross over each other. It's called Stepple quilting. I know it seems aimless, but it really holds the layers of material together well, and it serves the purpose of keeping the fabric flat."

"I have to admit the places you have already finished look nice once you got rid of the blue lines. Is the line hard to take out? It looks like ink."

"It disapperas the minute I put cold water on it. Hot water is a no-no. It set the color instead of making it vanish."

Some time we feel as if the pattern of our lives has become aimless and without color. We don't understand the design that our circumstances are drawing. We may feel we have lost our purpose. We endure these stages better if we remember God is the Master quilter of our lives. He began with a marvelous plan, and He knows the finest way to achieve it. he knows the right places to establish a flatness and lack of color to provide a pleasing contrast to the patterns where He stitches vivid events and triumphs into our lives. The blue marker, which disapperas when touched by cold water, reminds us that the ugly marks sin write on our souls disappear with the touch of God's forgivemess. When we repent from bad choices and attitudes, God is faithful to cleanse us from the stain of sin.

*Source: "The Quilt of Life", by Mary Tatem