Parent Ministry Sermons - God’s Embroidery – What’s Your Perspective?

Parent Ministry
Sermons - God’s
Embroidery –
What’s Your
Perspective?
www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com
www.CreativeHolidayIdeas.com

Many times our lives seem like a
mess and it’s often our mothers
who come to our rescue. We
don’t always see the wisdom in
the things they tell us to do and
sometimes we think that we’re
smarter than they are. But we
often forget that many times,
they see life through the lens of
their rich life experiences. Often,
it is only later, when we look
back, that we appreciate their
wisdom and guidance. What is
true of mothers, is even more
true of God.

God’s Embroidery - An illustration
When I was a little boy, my mother
used to embroider a great deal. I
would sit at her knee and look up from
the floor and ask what she was doing.
She informed me that she was
embroidering. I told her that it looked
like a mess from where I was. As from
the underside I watched her work
within the boundaries of the little
round hoop that she held in her hand,
I complained to her that it sure looked
messy from where I sat. She would
smile at me, look down and gently say,
“My son, you go about your playing for
a while, and when I am finished with
my embroidering, I will put you on my
knee and let you see it from my side.”

I would wonder why she was using
some dark threads along with the
bright ones and why they seemed so
jumbled from my view. A few
minutes would pass and then I would
hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come
and sit on my knee.”
This I did only to be surprised and
thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a
sunset. I could not believe it,
because from underneath it looked
so messy.

Then Mother would say to me, “My
son, from underneath it did look
messy and jumbled, but you did not
realize that there was a pre-drawn
plan on the top. It was a design. I
was only following it. Now look at it
from my side and you will see what
I was doing.”

Many times through the years I
have looked up to my Heavenly
Father and said, “Father, what are
You doing?” He has answered, “I
am embroidering your life.” I say,
“But it looks like a mess to me. It
seems so jumbled. The threads
seem so dark. Why can’t they all be
bright?”
The Father seems to tell me, “‘My
child, you go about your business of
doing My business, and one day I
will bring you to Heaven and put
you on My knee and you will see
the plan from My side.”

A Learning Activity
1. Ask the youth to imagine a big
clock on the ceiling, the kind
with hands on it.
2. Ask the youth to then imagine
the second hand moving around
the clock in a clockwise
direction.
3. Ask everyone to reach out their
hand and finger and point at the
clock, and move their hands in a
circle in the same direction the
clock hand would be moving.
(Demonstrate this for the group
to see)

4. Ask the youth to slowly lower
their hand and finger to chest
level, all the time still
pointing at the celing and
rotating their hand in the
same direction.
5. Now ask them to look at their
finger and to tell you if their
finger is rotating clockwise or
counterclockwise?
6. The answer:
counterclockwise!

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Make it Spiritual
• What changed during the activity?
– The youth’s finger has NOT
changed it’s direction during the
activity, but the perspective has
changed.
• Have there been experiences in
your life that seemed messy,
chaotic, without any apparent
plan? Explain.
• What are some of the lessons
your mom has taught you? Did
some of them seem to make no
sense at the time?

• Are there some things in the Bible
that you once found difficult to
understand?
• What are some ways that a mom
or parents have a different
perspective from a child or youth?
• What lessons from your Mom or
from the Bible now make sense
because you have a different
perspective?
• What are some ways in which God
has a different perspective from
us?

• What do you think some of the
famous Bible personalities might
say about this lesson? Jonah
swallowed by a fish? Joseph sold
into slavery? Israelites marching
around Jericho and blowing
trumpets? The disciples at
Christ’s crucifixion? Paul on the
Road to Damascus? Moses in
front of the red sea?
Make it Spiritual
• What are some of the lessons for
life we can learn from this story
and the activity?

Make it Personal
• Maybe there are some things
in life that you don’t
understand now. Maybe there
are some things that look
messy and without a plan.
What is an area of your life
where you need to trust in
God’s perspective on things?
• Take a moment this week to
thank God for having a plan for
your life, and working things
out for your good.

• Take a moment this week to
thank your mother for also
having a plan to raise you well
and to help you to have the
best things in life, for having
faith in you and putting all
those things in place so that
one day you might be amazed
and delighted at God’s plan for
you.

Scriptures
“Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make
straight your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-
6
“And we know that for those who
love God all things work together for
good, for those who are called
according to his purpose.” – Romans
8:28

“Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of
your mind, that by testing you may
discern what is the will of God, what
is good and acceptable and perfect.”
– Romans 12:2
“Your eyes saw my unformed
substance; in your book were written,
every one of them, the days that
were formed for me, when as yet
there was none of them.” – Psalm
139:16

“For everything there is a season, and
a time for every matter under
heaven: a time to be born, and a time
to die; a time to plant, and a time to
pluck up what is planted; a time to
kill, and a time to heal; a time to
break down, and a time to build up; a
time to weep, and a time to laugh; a
time to mourn, and a time to dance; a
time to cast away stones, and a time
to gather stones together; a time to
embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing; …” – Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

“The heart of man plans his way, but
the Lord establishes his steps.” –
Proverbs 16:9
“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye
has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart
of man imagined, what God has
prepared for those who love him’” – 1
Corinthians 2:9

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Parent Ministry Sermons - God’s Embroidery – What’s Your Perspective?

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