The Fabric of Our Lives

This striking tapestry is known as "The Adoration of the Magi," a representation of the visit of the wise men to the Christ-child. It is a huge wall hanging, approximately 8 feet tall and 12 feet wide and was woven with wool and silk threads. Creating such a masterpiece required meticulous attention to detail. The weavers had to strictly follow--and implicitly trust--a master pattern in order to know exactly when to use just the right colored thread. It took four men two years to weave this, and they were looking at the back-side of it the whole time.

Each of us is weaving a tapestry. It is the record of our life. The images it will eventually display will reflect the choices we've made, the things we've said and done, even our thoughts--both public and private-- including all those things we did when we thought nobody was watching. All will combine to weave a permanent record that is imprinted in our minds and recorded in heaven. 

President John Taylor referred to this when he taught: "Man sleeps for a time in the grave, and by-and-by he rises again from the dead and goes to judgment; and then the secret thoughts of all men are revealed . . . we cannot hide them; it would be vain for a man to say then, 'I did not do so-and-so;' [because] the command [from the Judge] would be, 'Unravel and read the record which he had made of himself, and let it testify.' . . . That record that is written by the man himself in the tablets of his own mind--that record that cannot lie--will in that day be unfolded before God and His angels who shall sit as judges."

And we not only choose the images that will be seen, but by our choices we select the quality of the fabric.

Surely there must have been days when the men who were weaving this magnificent tapestry were found murmuring. Maybe they were upset it was taking so long or couldn't see the big picture taking shape. To them it all may have seemed like a boring, daily treadmill, feeling like they weren't making any progress at all.  

Ever feel that way? I know I do. I guess we need to remember to pause, take a few steps back, and focus on the bigger picture. And remember this: there will be times when it may seem very tempting to stray from the pattern laid out for us by the "Master Weaver" because we think we have a "better plan," or worse, because others who have no experience in these things tell us they know a shortcut.

Hopefully sooner than later we'll all come to appreciate the value of sticking with the Master's pattern,  realizing that the greatness and quality and strength of our lives--like the magnificence of this tapestry--are all created one tiny thread at a time.