Threads

Threads of life.

For some reason this thought has been echoing in the corners of my mind the last few days.  It provokes a very specific image in my mind and the statement “the ties that bind” echo in my mind as well.

But I don’t think of the “ties that bind” in this instance as the ties that bind us to ourselves, to our families and loved ones, but of the ties that bind to everything, to everyone.

Think of life as a loom…

There is a weave, in and out, over and under, the weft and the warp.

As time flows constantly forward, the threads that weave who we are move over, under, through who we are as people.  The tapestry that we become is a reflection of each step through life.

We are bound to the good, and the bad, we are shaped by the experiences.  The wounds of life appearing as knots where a seamless flow was intended, a beautiful flow where knots were meant to lie.

Through those experiences, the people encountered throughout the seasons of life, add color, knots, seamlessness.  Their contribution to the shape of who we are, both good and bad, lies forever within the threads.

Memories lost, memories remembered alter the hues and color of the weft and warp as the threads come together and take shape.

Threads:

Parents, Siblings, Family, Love, Friendship, Lovers, Spouses, Children, Grandchildren, Accomplishment, Failure, Defeat, Victory, Shame, Resilience, Beauty, Scars, Pain, Agony, Loss, Death, Joy, Accidents, The road less traveled, The road always traveled, Good Teachers, Bad Teachers, Life Teachers, Employers, Job, Career, The ebb and flow of money, Passion, Experience, Journey, Road bumps, Detours, Inspiration, Lack of Inspiration, Clarity, Confusion, Helplessness, Mistakes, Success

We only have so much control on the shape it will take, but we have some control on the impact we have on the tapestry of another.  We must choose what impact we will have, but in some cases, despite our best intentions, we create knots instead.

Thinking this way has made me see each person as a spool of thread, each encounter asking of me, what impression will I make on this tapestry?  In the ties that bind, will I be worth remembering or a faded thread of forgotten memory?  A seamless addition in a beautiful part of life?  A knot that will make the whole thing more beautiful in an accidental way?  A knot that will be scorned?

We are not masters of the entire story.  We never can be.  Life is a journey.  It is a woven tapestry too far back to see clearly, stretched too far forward to know the final result.  It is in the weft and warp that we must choose our impact, to try to be a beautiful addition, to be who we are meant to be in that season.

Yet we must exert control on the shape that we take in the here and now so that those threads of life may create beauty, not scars and knots in others.

It’s a complicated weaving, but we must bear in mind our part in the loom of life.

What do you want your contribution to another’s tapestry to be? How will you be a tie that binds?

Image: The Lady and the Unicorn, one in a series, considered the Mona Lisa of tapestry