Psalm 139 – fearfully and wonderfully made
My sweetie and I have a trumpet vine that,oh!, do I love the flowers because orange! Gazanias live in pots lining the sidewalk and oh! Orange! Have I ever mentioned how much I love orange? I love its warmth, and heat, its passion and intensity. Orange is a blending of Red and Yellow, which are lovely on their own, but together they are quite passionate. I love orange for its intensity, and this intensity reminds me of how often I’ve been told over the years that I’m intense – acute, strong, vehement, as sensations, feelings, or emotions having or showing great strength, strong feeling, or tension, as a person, the face, or language – and I have a photo of me as a kid that seems to bear this out. (Thank you dictionary.com for the definitions) I’ve been told over and over again that I need to be less intense.
So why begin with the Psalm and speak of orange? Well, in essence I’m revealing a little bit of me to you. We’re told that we’re fearfully and wonderfully made. We’re also told that we’re created in the image and likeness of God. So this intensity that is very much part of who I am, who God created me. 
Apparently I’ve been intense since I was a kid. There is something about the eyes in this photo that bear this out and it’s always fascinated me. We were living in North Las Vegas at the time, at the edge of the desert. My older brother and I would walk across the desert to get to school (Myrtle Tate). That’s about the last time I was a natural blond. 🙂 My dad, ever the observer, often captured something on film that lived just below the surface of the person, that something more. I think catching my intensity is a gift to me. I can see who I am since I was little and embrace this gift in a new way. Instead of being less intense, channeling this intensity differently will help.
My other favorite color is purple, again a blended color, a cooler color. I am quite internal. While I feel and experience things deeply and passionately, I am also happy to hang back and watch, to listen, to do my best to see below the surface of who you are. Why do I share this? I know deep down that we are all more. That there is more below the surface of each person than what we see. You see there is this very intense component; with a cool component – aloof – reserved – restful. There’s more to me than the intense person you meet.
It’s the same thing with quilts, often there is more to the story than what we first see. Perhaps the quilt is made by a new or inexperienced quilter. Perhaps the fabric is wearing away due to something in the dye. Maybe the quilt was made for a life-event and carries with it special memories.
Perhaps an award winning quilt bears memories in its stitches that we can not see but perhaps feel.
Perhaps the quilt made with the panel shows someone stretching and growing and taking risks.
Perhaps there’s something more. Quilting gives us an opportunity to see, to look beyond, at the quilter presenting her heart to us. (please don’t get caught up in feminine language here)
As I sit here and write I’m considering putting more of my heart out there. Taking bigger risks and being more of the intense person God created me to be.
God bless!
Teri
A Quilter's Heart 