PETTICOAT JUNCTION

I’d just finished sewing a little music-themed dress for my granddaughter (her mother teaches violin), but something seemed missing: a fluffy petticoat for its full skirt.  She’s turning 3, which is that “princess ballerina” age. On one recent visit, her parents put on a classical tape and helped her pull on a little girl’s play tutu. Oh, the imaginative moves she made in her “dance show” for grandparents.  In her mind, she was the prima ballerina in the tutu that looks like a mushroom. I could make her a fluffier one, I thought.  Then I thought I heard a whisper, “I will provide.”  The “I,” of course, is God, who knows I try to stretch every dollar.

Right away I thought of checking the sewing supplies area at a local large thrift store, one so overwhelmed by donations that finding things can be an adventure.  I went to its crafts corner where there was a huge tub of random scraps and larger pieces with a sign that said, “Don’t leave a mess.”  About six inches down into the bin I found about three yards of what was probably netting for a wedding veil. Yes, that will work, Lord, I said, finding myself smiling. The checkout clerk said, “How about fifty cents?”  I gladly put my two quarters (plus tax) on the counter, wondering how much it cost in the first place off the bolt in the fabric store. A couple days later, I’d stitched what would pass for a little girl’s tutu/petticoat.

When I get to heaven, I’ll have a lot of “how did you know, Lord?” questions for how He supplied not only our needs (over and over and over!) but our special, unique “wants.”  I’m grateful that the Bible includes stories of miracles of supply—like Jesus telling Peter to go fish to get the temple tax that the local authorities said they’d better pay.  Not land a fish, sell it, and use the money. But this:

Go to the lake and throw out your line.  Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours. (Matthew 17:27)

Philippians 4:19 has long been a special verse for me: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Next to this in my Bible I wrote (probably a note from a long-ago sermon): “Jamestown went from 500 to 7 because they didn’t appropriate the riches of the land.” Yes, even thrift stores can hide the “riches of the land” as answers to our desires and needs.

Along the same line, here’s another gifting, sewn up the same day.  These three shirts for my grandsons (ages 2, almost 5 and 6) resulted from a large bag of unwanted fabric I was given.  When I went to cut them out, I realized that whoever pre-washed the fabric had included something dark in the load that stained portions of the fabric. But by cutting carefully, I was able to squeeze the three shirts out of it.

Is there a bigger lesson here? I think so. When God supplies my needs or even wants, He doesn’t always deliver in the way I anticipated. But every good and perfect gift—the little daily surprises as well as the incomprehensible truth that God loves and cares intimately for me--comes from Him (James 1:17).