wow winter 2016

OPENHEART
BY TEX WEST
curtains…at least not that much. The
This is the time of year fronts of the curtains were beautiful as
in which we become usual but the back panels were more
more reflective and frayed and tattered than usual.
focused because of a So, this New Year will produce
new milestone…a New something:
Year! With a new year, Beautiful,
we have: new hope, new goals and new Something different,
resolutions…we looked back over our
Something new…
past year and say, ‘Goodbye year, it’s been Out with the old, in with the NEW?
real, but I’m moving on to:
2016 will be designed and fashioned
Something new,
to make our life beautiful, right? Sort of
Something better---this year… like my tapestry curtains. They are deep
I’m closing the curtains on last year, burgundy with beautiful gold and silver
This will be MY YEAR!’
silk leaves and pedals strategically laid
Sound familiar?
out through the pattern.
Wouldn’t it be great if it was actually Likewise, to produce the pattern of this
that easy? I’ve learned that the fallacy in beautiful New Year let’s metaphorically
celebrating the New Year is that we really compare it to a piece of tapestry. The
cannot wipe away what happened in the front of the tapestry is: beautiful, rich in
past year or the year before that or the color, texture and dimension. Tapestry
year before that. We want a clean slate, has a richness about it, a sturdiness to it,
a fresh start to produce the beautiful it’s classic and it has weathered the time
and abundant pattern of life that we so of fashion and style but when you turn it
deserve.
over to see the back side of the pattern--
The mistakes, the failures, the it’s frayed, tattered and the stitching is
disappointments of our past, will not random and makes no sense. That’s what
follow us into this New Year, right? our lives are like; we sometimes fail to
Wrong, 96% of New Year resolutions are realize that what we already have, what
broken and dissolved by the first quarter we have already experienced---the good,
of the year. If insanity is repeating the the bad and the ugly---is all a part of our
same thing over and expecting different beautiful pattern of life.
results, then we sign up for it repeatedly What happened last year: the
ever year.
successes, the failures, the joy, the pain…
Yesterday, I took down my tapestry it all intertwines in our lives to produce
curtains in our family room to wash on our own individual beautiful tapestry
gentle cycle. I was a little worried because pattern. To try to abandon or reject the
I normally take them to the cleaners but bad parts, the failures and the heartache
for some reason, I just wanted to try associated with the past year is losing
to clean them myself to see if it would sight of the real picture, the other side of
work. To my relief, I didn’t damage my the panel. Not one thread of experience
54 | WOW! MAGAZINE | WINTER 2016
is wasted or random. To see the beauty
and the wholeness of our life during
these frayed times, we need to look to the
One who is weaving our tapestry of life.
2016 WILL BE OUR YEAR! Just like
every year that we’ve been given before.
There’s really nothing magical about the
beginning of a New Year, when we look
at the scheme of things, our tapestry will
continue. We can be intentional about
how intense the colors will be, how deep
we allow the character and the integrity
of the pattern to become and how skillful
and intentional the pattern will be.
Happy New Year! May your pattern of
life continue to reveal the beauty of God’s
handiwork in you. May you embrace
every color, every thread and every stitch
of fiber woven to produce this New Year
and may you display your beautiful panel
of life for His Glory!
© 2016 Tex West is a Jesus Follower
and student of life. Living life
purposeful and hopeful. Sharing her
stories and celebrating all goodness.
www.thewowmagazine.com