Mending the tears

With its long, slow rain, today is definitely the day for a favorite sweater. I remember Martha, a good friend of mine, loved a cozy turtleneck sweater so much that she kept wearing it after a hole started in the armpit. The hole spread and stretched, until it was well down the side seam.
She assured me that there was no use to try to fix it - she had sewn it up before, but the stitches ripped right out again. She let me take a look, and I saw it was true that the knitting was unraveled all along the edges, so it would be too weak to hold together as she pulled it over her head. I was about to hand it back when I realized it just needed a patch. I cut a piece of an old T-shirt and stitched one edge down tightly so all the loose threads were held fast. Then I attached the other side right next to it. The sturdy, stretchy patch held the seam together so well you couldn't tell it had ever ripped open.

At the Church of the Apostles in Seattle, they sing "Christ is the peace between all of us." It is so easy for relationships to fall apart. In my brokenness and your brokenness, we can be too weak on our own to keep our connection strong. But if you and I are each bound fast to Jesus, the strength of his love holds us together through every challenge.