All Things Work Together

. . . for those who love God.

“I worry so about my past life and how many bad judgments I’ve made,” said the young woman sitting in front of me.

     “You know,” I said, “I used to have as neighbor a woman who was very creative in the domestic arts: painting, crafts, needlework. One item she showed me made a lasting impression. She had made a full-size quilt that featured a variety of cloths and designs, each related to an important event in her life. She had a piece from one of the children’s “blankie;” jeans she wore on her first date with her husband, and part of a shirt left in the laundry by her son who had just run away from home.

     “From all these remnants commemorating both happy and catastrophic events, she had made a work of art. Bound together by solid dark blue strips framing each square, she had created a kind of book of her life. It was beautiful! And besides, it served a very useful purpose in her home.”

This is what St. Paul means in his letter to the Romans (8:18): For those who love God, all things work together unto good. To that marvelous statement, St. Augustine added the words … even sin. All events, all actions, thoughts, omissions, whether joyful or sad, whether “productive” or empty – all are, in God’s hands, the stuff of our life, all put to use to ultimately shape us into the image that God has of us.

For there is nothing in our life that God cannot put to good use. Our profound and loving Teacher uses even our “mistakes,” not as stern lectures directed at us, but as gentle reminders of his mercy, as sturdy lengths of thread that draw us to him, binding us to himself into one work of art.

Author: Rosalie P. Krajci

Rosalie P. Krajci, Ph. D., is a Benedictine Oblate of Mt. Saviour Monastery in Pine City, NY. She is retired from two careers: as a language teacher and as a consultant in human resources management. Her third and most rewarding career is as a spiritual director and freelance writer. Rosalie and her husband Tom raised seven children. Now widowed, she lives in the Finger Lakes area in upstate New York. View all posts by Rosalie P. Krajci