Woven Bags

This is my new bag.

It was handmade by a skilled woman I have never met

in Africa.

She lives in one of the five poorest countries of the world.

This is my youngest daughter's new purse.

It, too, was handmade, and is woven from materials

that were donated

by people from countries like the United States.



The donated materials could have been thrown out, recycled, or reused,

but people gave them to the skilled women,

who wove them together

to create beautiful bags

that my daughters and I were excited to buy and use.

This is my oldest daughter's bag.

Have you guessed what the donated materials are?

The donated materials are

plastic bags that you might get from a grocery store or discount store.

Bags woven into bags.



By itself, a single plastic bag is fragile. 

It tears easily.

By itself, a single plastic bag is usually ugly

with a single color advertisement printed on the side.

  But,

combined with other individual plastic bags,

woven together

by a skilled worker

with a planned pattern

for a specific purpose

these single,

fragile,

ugly

plastic bags

become something more...

something

beautiful,

strong,

and durable.

The weaving of these ordinary plastic bags 
into one strong durable bag

reminds me of the unity we have in Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians chapter 12

verse 12 [NIV - emphasis mine]

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ."

verse 18 [NIV - emphasis mine]

"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be."

On our own, we are each fragile and tear easily, 

but when woven together with others

in a planned pattern

for a specific purpose

by the skillful Weaver,

we become something more...

something beautiful, strong, and durable...

because of Him.


Today, I am celebrating our unity!