When the Blind Falls Down

Ever restrung a large blind that has fallen down and lost its strings?

The day before Jonathan and I left for Texas, I had gone to town with him to pick up his truck from the mechanic. I ended up spending all afternoon with him as we rushed from one appointment or work place to another and tried to figure out one problem after another. 

At one home which Jonathan's crew was painting and touching up for the homeowner to sell,

the homeowner was very gracious and kind and gave verbal high fives to Jonathan for the work his crew had done, saying they had "exceeded expectations." But one little problem she said was that one of the guys had tried to pull up a large blind, and pulled too hard without also lifting up underneath the blind, and now this blind's strings and slates were all fallen apart on the floor. Jonathan promised to make some calls and see who he could find to repair it since it was not a kind that could simply be replaced.

At that point, I remembered how I have worked with blinds a lot, shortening them, and wondered if I could try to help restring it.

So Jonathan took down a second blind and took a picture of the top part to show us how to string the strings through the top part.

As you can see in the pictures, we worked together that evening.

Jonathan is doubled over with a flashlight trying to see where I should thread the string. I was unable to get the string through at first because it had to bend to get around the hanger gismo. We didn't know how to do that. 

Then I had one of those rare but brilliant ideas!

I had just purchased a set of Fast Turners at a yard sale for $5 a few weeks ago.

It's for turning narrow straps, bows and apron ties inside out after you sew them right sides together. You place this long pipe, with wire inside, through the inside of your tie, and the wire has little twirly hooks at the end that you poke through the end of your tie and then twist enough for it to stay. Then you push your fabric onto the pipe, and then carefully pull the wire part back through the pipe, the fabric with it, and presto! Your tie is right side out!

Here are the ties Hannah and I sewed for a jumper that was too baggy for her but otherwise cute. We LOVED how this gismo worked.

Well, I used it to string the blind. I had to pike the sharp end through the very end of each of the four strings that were of four different lengths, one at a time, and then twist and pull and tug and bend the thing a bit to get it where it needed to go through the top of the blind, but little by little I got all four strings through their respective holes and then Jonathan and I threaded the strings through all those slats. We made several mistakes along the way, but after about an hour and a half, we were done and the thing worked! We were able to hang the blind back up for the homeowner the next day before leaving for Texas.

I thought how that amazing wire gismo reminded me of how God can work all things for good in our lives.

All we can see is the wrong side of things--the things that have fallen apart in our lives.

But God gets His skills busy and turns the wrongs and messes inside out and everything is right again.

It's all good!

And then there are the times when we or others have good intentions in a situation.
We have a good heart, but the right sides and right intentions are hidden by mistaken judgment or wrong actions or unwise words or attitudes. So then all other people see is the frayed edges, the seaminess of it, and the bad side of things.
It's like an apron tie that has been sewed right sides together with the seam and ragged edges showing.

It takes God's  skills and healing power to set things straight again.
To Him it's as simple as placing that Fast Turner pipe and wire down the very middle of the tie.
God's Fast Turner goes right down the middle of our problem, our trial, our test, our mess, our mistake, our wrong,
or someone else's that has caused us so much frustration or injury,
and He pulls the seamy, frayed, messy situation inside out and right side out.

To our amazement, He makes something beautiful of our inside-out and upside-down messes. 

He connects the apron tie to the apron, restrings the blinds, tunes the violin strings, glues the broken pieces, mends the wounded heart and works all things for good to those who love Him!