What's That in Your Eye?

I’m always amused when one of the kids I babysit tells another one not to do something, especially when they usually do that same thing themselves. It’s like they can see that the other kid isn’t supposed to snatch a toy, or stand on a toy truck or whatever it is, but when they want to do it they’re oblivious to the fact that it’s not allowed. Unfortunately, we adults aren’t immune to that obliviousness, either. Somehow it’s really easy to see when another person is doing something they shouldn’t or has a character trait that needs some work, but almost impossible to see when we are doing the same thing or have that same unpleasant trait.

Jesus said, “Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).

It’s kind of funny to imagine a person with a 2x4 sticking out of their eye as they attempt to help a friend with a speck of dust in their eye, isn’t it? Jesus probably made it so exaggerated on purpose, so it would really make His point. We can’t help others with their sins if we’re not willing to deal with our own first.

I love that Jesus ends by telling us to remove the log in our own eye, which will then enable us to help others. I can’t get rid of my sin through my own power, but when I trust in Jesus I am cleansed of my sin. Then I can help others to find their way to Him, too, so the speck of dust in their eye can be removed.

Owning Up To It

Devotion for the Week...

It doesn't matter which political leader or celebrity has been accused of sexual misconduct, they all deny it. We see them on the news all the time, claiming that the women are lying or that they're remembering wrong. Nothing inappropriate happened, the men insist. They have to deny the allegations, of course, in an attempt to save their reputations and careers, but it's wearying all the same.

King David took a different approach. Yes, there was sexual misconduct when he had Bathsheba brought to him even though he knew she was someone else's wife. Not to mention the fact she probably couldn't refuse him, seeing as he was king. And yes, after Bathsheba became pregnant, David arranged to have her husband sent into the worst of the battle so he would be killed. Obviously sexual scandal is not only a modern-era problem. 

David's conduct was inexcusable, no question about it. He probably figured he had gotten away with it, until God sent the prophet Nathan to confront him. Nathan came and told him a story about a poor man who owned one lamb and a rich man who had whole flocks and herds of animals, but when a guest arrived he stole the poor man's lamb to serve at dinner (2 Samuel 12:1-4). "David was furious. 'As surely as the Lord lives,' he vowed, 'any man who would do such a thing deserves to die'" (v. 5).

I imagine at this point Nathan was shaking, knowing he had to confront the king, but he spoke the truth anyway. "You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife" (vv. 7-9).

David probably could have ordered Nathan killed. He was king, after all, and he had already arranged for Uriah to die. He could certainly have argued with Nathan and insisted he did nothing wrong and that Nathan was lying. He didn't. Instead, he simply said, "I have sinned against the Lord" (v. 13).

Did this happen in the throne room, where there would have been dozens of witnesses, or was it in a private room, with just the two of them? The Bible doesn't give us those details, so we don't know if David confessed only to Nathan or if it was to a crowd of people. We do know he didn't try to bury the truth after his confession. Psalm 51 bears the heading, "For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba." It is a psalm of deep, sincere repentance that David wrote and then shared with the whole world.

It's refreshing to see a leader who owned his mistakes. Understand, I'm not excusing what David did to Bathsheba and Uriah, but I do admire his honesty in admitting the truth. Can you imagine any celebrity or political leader today doing the same?

On a more personal note, can we do the same? Our wrongs may not be the same as David's, but that doesn't mean we've never done anything wrong. Do we attempt to cover it up or do we own up to our sins?

Add Grace QAL Design Reveal

I have been anxiously waiting for today to arrive so I could finally share the design for the Add Grace quilt along. So without further ado, let me introduce Add Grace 😊

Here is what it looks like with a navy background.

Add Grace finishes at 72" square, making it a great lap quilt. It's even big enough to share, if you're so inclined! I love designing medallion quilts with lots of negative space so each of the blocks can shine. As a bonus, all that negative space means you can piece the whole top faster. Add Grace is mostly traditional piecing, with only a bit of foundation piecing. 

Registration for the Add Grace QAL and devotional journey will open on February 15th. If you want to be notified when registration opens, you can put your name on the waitlist. This year there will be two options for registering. You can register for the quilt along and the daily devotions or, if you just can't fit another QAL into your schedule, you can choose to register only for the daily devotions. With either option, we'll spend 40 days focusing on grace together as we prepare to celebrate Easter, beginning on March 2nd.

I had a box of fabric arrive from Andover last week with the fabric for my two versions of Add Grace.

The prints are from the Pietra and Spectrastic lines, both designed by Giuseppe Ribaudo (AKA Giucy Giuce) and they're such fabulous blenders.

And the Century Solids are so pretty, too!

I couldn't decide which to make first! I put a poll in an IG story and the majority thought I should start with the prints, so that's the one I started. I'm planning to have at least the top of this version finished in time for registration to open. Here's my first block all finished. I sure do love seeing a quilt move from a picture on my computer to finished blocks in my hand!

I hope you'll join me for the Add Grace QAL and devotional journey!