The Invisible Thread

TheInvisibleThreadLowRes

Just a few days prior to this last surgery in December, I re-read The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. I did not realize the significance it would have until several days ago.

I won’t describe the story in detail here. You would do well to read it yourself and will enjoy doing so! The main bit is that the young princess in the story is given a beautiful ring by her Grandmother. Attached to this ring is a near invisible thread that the Grandmother has been spinning from spider webs. The Princess is to wear the ring on her finger at all times and follow where the thread leads without question. This thread is unseen by all except the Princess. And even to her, it is often invisible to her eye, unless a certain light shines on it.  Only by feel can she know it is there.

The invisible thread leads her into some dangerous situations and places where she would normally not go. But it also, always, leads her out and back to safety, back to her Grandmother who will soothe and heal her wounds.

As I walked in our neighborhood, trying to sort out the last two years of health issues, I stopped as I thought of MacDonald’s book.

And my shoulders relaxed.

There it is. Yes, there is growth afoot. Yes, it is in darkness that our roots grow. And yes, the only way to move forward is one small step at at time. But the invisible yet shimmery thread is always there, if we will trust it.

The Invisible Thread may lead us into difficult places. But it will always, always lead us home. Back to the One who will soothe and heal our wounds.

ShimmeryThread

I am currently knitting a commissioned shawl for a friend. I have chosen to add some rows here and there that have a shimmery thread. As I knit it into her shawl, I know she will love having this as a reminder of the Invisible Thread in her life…wrapped around her…going with her…wherever she goes , and whatever happens to her in life.

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“If we will but let our God and Father work His will with us, there can be no limit to His enlargement of our existence”
― George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons: Series I, II, III

“Come, then, affliction, if my Father wills, and be my frowning friend. A friend that frowns is better than a smiling enemy. ”
― George MacDonald

“Seeing is not believing – it is only seeing.”
― George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin

“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.”
― George MacDonald

It is amazing what you hear when you really listen.

6 thoughts on “The Invisible Thread

    • jenpedwards says:

      I am truly sorry to hear of the dark time you are enduring right now. But it is a comfort to know of the Invisible Thread that will one day lead you out and into a sunnier place. My hope and prayer for you is that it is sooner rather than later. Thanks for visiting and commenting!!

  1. Karen says:

    What a beautiful post. I love the thought of the invisible thread guiding us. When I recently referred to 2014 as being my gap year-a year in which I felt adrift , a fellow blogger commented that often when we believe we are achieving very little we are cultivating great change. I found her words comforting and your post has just further enhanced the belief that given time we do discover our path forward 🙂

    • jenpedwards says:

      Another beautiful way to put to words what’s happening in and trough us when it doesn’t feel as if anything is happening at all! Thank you for visiting here and commenting!

  2. freebirdsings says:

    Wonderful post! I like the idea of that thread. Maybe when God “knit us in the womb” he held on to the end of the thread and kept on and keeps on, knitting as we go forward and into life. I like the “frowning friend” and “be what God chose to make me” quotes the best out of these. I sure hope God can knit over the wrong choices I make. I think my pattern will be lots of bobbles and dropped stitches!

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