JUNE 2, 2022
ON THE PORCH
TINK OR RIBBIT?
**Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
When my brothers and I were small, we bounced around our first few years. When we left the children’s home, the boys went with my mom and her new husband, and I went to live with Granny and Mamaw. Mamaw was 78 years old, and Granny drove a bus to support our new family of three. Both struggled trying to keep up with a young girl, and looking back now, I truly don’t know how they managed.
They doted on me, being their only child at the time. Granny and Mamaw didn’t have much, but they gave me what they had. They taught me to love the LORD and instilled in me a love of books. Between the school and the public library, I cannot tell you how many hundreds of books I read as a child. I even remember propping books on the kitchen windowsill while washing dishes. I didn’t want to miss anything. I loved everything to do with books.
As I grew, they taught me how to do many things. Mamaw’s hands were old and tired and having a pair of young hands around would be a great benefit. They showed me numerous crafts, and my mind never got bored. One of our unspoken rules was: “When you watch TV at night, you must have something in your hands to be productive.”
When I was in fourth grade, Mamaw decided it was time that I learn to crochet. With young hands, I could whip out a baby blanket or other gift in half the time it took Mamaw’s arthritic fingers to work the hook and thread. Because of experience, Mamaw was patient to a fault. I, on the other hand, wanted to be a master crocheter instantaneously. I made many mistakes, but Mamaw was always patient to help me pull them out and show me where to fix them.
Once I caught the hang of crocheting, my hook flew and I loved to sit and crochet while watching TV.
This newfound hobby got in the way of my first love, though. After a couple years and hours and hours of practice, I taught myself to read while crocheting, if the pattern I was working on leant itself to sharing my attention.
While headed to Aledo with Sierra and Brandon’s tiny new home last week, I got out my kindle and Baby Wesley’s unfinished blanket to work on. While reading and crocheting, my fingers felt a missed stitch and I had to take a little out and redo it. My mind subconsciously counted the stitches, and my fingers felt the thread. Because my hands have crocheted millions of double crochet stitches, my fingers know the feel of them by heart. Fortunately, I caught it within a stitch, and didn’t have to tink too much.
“If you’re new to the world of knitting, some of the lingo and knitting slang can seem a little odd. Frogging and tinking are two words that often stump beginners, but they truly are lifesavers when you realize you’ve made a mistake in your knitting.
Tinking is just knitting backward. Literally — the word “tink” is “knit” spelled backward. This method involves undoing your stitches one at a time.
Frogging, on the other hand, is the more dramatic method of undoing your mistakes. This method involves ripping your stitches out by hand. This term probably comes from the fact that “rip it,” sounds a little like “ribbit.” – allfreeknitting.com
**Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep My word, and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” John 14:23
After hundreds of hours crocheting, my fingers are so in tune with the thread that even while reading they feel the mistakes. I want my heart the same way. I want to be so in tune with God and His will that I know immediately when something is off. I want my heart to feel the difference immediately, so I must only tink a tiny bit to be back in tune with God’s heart. I don’t want to let it get away from me and be forced to ribbit. Even a small amount of time lost in fellowship or being out of sync with God’s will is costly.
God also wants our hearts tuned into Him. As we study and read His Word, our knowledge of Him grows and we are more able to recognize His will and His answers. It does take practice and discipline, though. Just as I spent hour after hour, day after day practicing my crochet, we must devote time to study His Word and spend time in His presence, listening to His heart. We need to know His heart to judge our own, just as I needed Mamaw to show me her stitches so I could pattern mine the same.
When I stray or disobey, my heart feels “off,” just as the stitch did while crocheting in the pickup. But I only felt it because I had spent so much time with a hook.
Dear Lord, I want nothing more than for my heart to be pure and in tune with Yours. If there’s something about my heart posture that’s a little off or not quite right, please reveal that to me right now so that I can align myself with Yours once again. Change and form my heart as only You can. Thank You for the time, effort, and energy my Granny and Mamaw poured into me so that I could reap the benefits for decades to come. In Your Precious name, amen.
**“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” – Luke 6:45
**Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10
COME THOU FOUNT (Celtic Worship)
Knitting quote borrowed from:
https://www.allfreeknitting.com/Knitting-Tutorials/How-to-Undo-a-Knit-Stitch
**The book on my kindle is a book by Charles Martin. I have recently discovered his books, and I’m “hooked!” LOL (pun intended)
ON THE PORCH 