A few years ago, I was living in Melbourne, Australia and went to see the Netherlands Ballet. It had been a hectic few weeks and I was wrestling with the decision as to whether, after eight years of living Down Under, I should stay and put down roots or move back to the U.S. I always found the ballet inspiring and wondered if the evening might hold some clue for me.
When the lights dimmed and the dancers entered, each carried a small carpet rolled under his or her arm. Some unrolled theirs and languidly laid them down, others wrapped themselves up as with a cloak, while still others stood still, frozen in place.
Suddenly, giant rugs with abstract designs were lowered from the rafters and hung like enormous colored paintings in the air. The music began.
Their Special Carpet
The dancers started weaving gracefully among the hanging carpets. Some embraced their smaller ones like a lover. Others rolled frantically inside theirs or lay on them motionless as if in a sacred sleep or meditation. The remaining troupe whirled intensely among the bigger pieces to the dynamic rhythm of the music.
The Dance of Life
This dance seemed to me just like life. We move in and out of seasons, sometimes passionately engaged, other times frantic, sometimes frozen with uncertainty. Then, thankfully, every now and then, we pause, disengage and rest, while life thunders on.
That evening, the ballet did, indeed, “unfold” some inspiration for me and I recognized the movement of the seasons in my own life.
Discovering The Design
Several months later, I did move back to the U.S. “Coincidentally” the carpet theme was to surface again shortly after. I was at a women’s retreat and the speaker compared life to a carpet! She said while the back of a rug was a maze of threads and knots, ugly and chaotic, pulling in all different directions and making no sense, the front part displayed a beautiful design, full of color and harmony. If one focused on the back, the image was anarchic, but in the front, those seemingly random maze of threads weren’t random or haphazard at all, but necessary to shape the beauty and harmony of a particular design.
The Master Weaver
It is God himself who is in the business of weaving the chaos of our lives into a masterpiece. Keeping our eyes on Him — the Great Designer — always helps bring a peace to our souls and a greater order, beauty and purpose than when we try and figure out the sometimes unsettling circumstances of our lives.
A Carpet of Your Own
I pray that, today, each of you can roll out a “carpet” of your own and have a moment of rest. Maybe just reading this story has been a little break for you.
Even when you can’t see it, trust that God is, literally, behind the scenes, “weaving” all things out for your good. And one day, when your dance is done, you will stand before Him, radiant and complete, God’s true masterpiece.
Marion Pyle is an author of the award-winning book “Healed, Healthy and Whole, How We Beat Cancer with Integrative Therapies and Essential Healing Strategies” available at healedhealthyandwhole.com and established online retailers.
She and her husband teach monthly seminars in use of integrated and alternative therapies in the prevention and healing of cancer and other degenerative diseases (for more info, visit healedhealthyandwhole.com). Marion is also a popular speaker and adjunct professor of media and communications.
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