The Missing Number Five
It’s always a joy visiting my mum on a Saturday morning.
Towards the end of my visit yesterday, I noticed a long pouch sitting on the chair.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
“It’s full of knitting needles,” she said.
Looking inside there were long ones, short ones, thick ones, thin ones, grey ones, yellow ones, red-topped ones, and a few that looked much older than mum!
Each one had a number on it and so I asked, “What do the numbers mean?”
Mum then gave me a detailed explanation of needle sizes, wool thickness, patterns and what she was currently knitting. I nodded, with the face of a man who understood almost none of it!
Then she said, “I’ve been through the whole pouch and can’t find a number 5. I’m sure there’s one in there.”
So, off I went hunting through the pouch.
A few seconds later, there it was, a number 5.
“How did you find that?” she said. We laughed. Then we laughed some more.
I suspect my knitting career may have peaked.
But there was something lovely in that little moment.
To me, the pouch looked like a cheerful jumble of metal sticks, plastic ends, mysterious numbers and woolly possibilities.
To Mum, it made perfect sense.
Each needle had a number.
Each number had a purpose.
Each purpose fitted a pattern.
The lesson
It reminded me of Paul’s words:
“In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”
— Ephesians 2:21
The Lord does not see us as a random bundle of personalities, gifts, quirks and weaknesses. He sees where we fit. He knows what we can become. He understands the pattern even when we only see the pouch.
I found the number 5 and mum knew exactly what it was for.
Perhaps that is enough of a lesson for one Saturday morning.
Sometimes the Lord does not ask us to understand the whole design. Rather, He simply asks us to help find what is missing, laugh with someone we love, and trust that He knows what He is making.
Where in your life are you seeing only a jumble, when the Lord may already be forming a pattern?
