To Sew Redemption
can unraveled life threads be woven into beauty again?
My maternal grandma is dying of cancer. Two years ago, she was given six months to live.
She never knew me.
Relations between my grandma and my mom remained strained since I was in grade school. Two months ago, she was trying to find my mom “to say ‘I love you’.” They reconnected. Soon after, my mom prodded me, saying, “Archer, she would love to hear from you. Please call her, here’s her number…”.
I sat on my mom’s request for days. Here I was, the grand child she never knew, and my mom was asking me to call her. I didn’t even know how to pronounce or spell her last name. It would have been easy to shrug off my mom’s poking and think, “She should call me!”.
I have known many years of grief at too early of an age. After having worked through much of that, I’m desperate for the tiniest anything that can shine the faintest glimmer of redemption on all the years of sorrow. The redemption I crave, it’s a life redemption, something that brings goodness and hope out of a botched up past. God has redeemed much in my life already, so much that I gave my first daughter a name that means “to sew redemption.”
Redemption, it heals me, and I can’t let its invitation pass me by, however small that it is. Even though the bitter years have blinded mortals, and I have to go out of my way to read the redemptive summons, if this is all the redemption I have left to gather, may my net be large and its holes be little, so that I may receive every morsel of it. And may I sew it and stitch it and darn it, everywhere I go.
I called my grandma.
Where do you need to sew redemption in your life? Where can you sew something together that was once torn apart?
Enjoy More Archerfriendliness
I was sitting on my school's shuttle waiting to exit, when she blustered over me with all her stuff. She unknowingly spilled her travel mug of dark, hot beverage on my Citizen of Humanity jeans. ...
Some of my deepest wounds come from the most vulnerable parts of my life being shamefully exposed - on purpose and with intention. This shaming behavior is what I like to call the exploitation of ...
For the past two months, the Wendy's Eating Husband, a few others, and myself have been working on a little project! I've been dying to reveal it on the blog because I'm super excited about it. We...
Courtney
February 20th, 2012 at 7:19 am
Redemption is a beautiful thing. Thank you for your lovely, heartfelt post, Archer.
Reply
Marcia
February 20th, 2012 at 8:09 am
Sometimes being the “bigger person” is hard but in the end I believe it’s worth it.
Reply
Pamela
February 20th, 2012 at 8:28 am
Lovely post, thanks for the glimpse into your life. I hope you are well & the call went okay.
Reply
Pragati
February 20th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Archer, thank you for such a thought provoking post. It reminds me to let go of the hurt that I’ve been holding onto in my own life, it doesn’t serve any purpose here. I wish you and your family lots of love.
Reply
Kirsten
February 20th, 2012 at 10:07 am
beautiful.
Reply
aunt lisa
February 20th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Archer, l am so joyful to know that you are part of God.s family. Family relationships are the hardest ones to understand. You did the right thing by calling grandma. You may not have known her very well, but l know she wanted to. I can remember helping her pick out some of the most beautiful dresses to buy for you and your sisters when you were little. She used to mail you and your sisters other items in the mail also. You can rest assured that your grandma and myself NEVER stopped loving any of you. We always wanted to know how all of you were l am thankful to God that we are back in contact again. LOVE. Aunt Lisa and Unckle Mike
Reply
Erika
February 21st, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Beautiful, Archer.
Reply
Aunt Sue
February 21st, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Archer Ur article was very uplifting, Ur are a very grown up woman!
Reply
Diane Squyres
March 3rd, 2012 at 9:26 am
I love you my little Bright Eyes. Redemption is so sweet.
mom
Reply
Karly
March 3rd, 2012 at 10:09 pm
That was beautiful!
Reply