According To The Pattern

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hirty-four years ago, I was in the back hallway of our house on Main Street.  I was there at the behest of my mother.  The back hallway had so many different uses in our house.  The pantry was there, the washer and dryer were there, my dad’s closet, the back door, and access to my mom and dad’s room could also be found in the back hall.  But thirty-four years ago, I was in the back hall for another reason.  This was also mom’s sewing room and whenever she had the sewing machine cranked up, we all spent a fair amount of time trying on the clothes she was making.

So, in 1983, I spent a lot of time in the back hallway with mom as she made several shirts for my upcoming trip to France.  Trying on the shirts while she made adjustments was not one of my all time favorite things to do.  It required me to stand still, which my mom will tell you is still impossible for me to do.  But, like the dutiful son that I am (well, sort of) I spent my time with mom as she cut, snipped, and pinned the material to conform to the pattern she was making.

Of course, mom took this seriously and arduously worked to make those shirts fit perfectly.  I, on the other hand, was cracking jokes, pretending to be stuck when she placed a pin into the material, and begging her not to cut me when she trimmed the material to make an adjustment.  It’s a wonder she didn’t cut or stick me just to teach me a lesson!

But all in all, we made it through, the shirts were finished, and I packed my bags and headed to France for a full year.  But whenever I wore those shirts some 5,000 miles away from home, I remembered the times mom and I spent together as she worked and worked to make them according to the pattern she used.  I always felt she was with me and I could feel her hands and arms around me as I put on those shirts.  I was aware of the detailed stitching and her meticulous finger work that made the shirts complete.

When Moses was on Mt. Sinai, God showed him a pattern for the tabernacle and all its instruments.  He told Moses to build the tabernacle according to the plans he had seen on the mountain.  The pattern was the most important thing.  It revealed the exact size and shape of everything God wanted in the tabernacle.  Moses’ job was to follow that pattern and make the materials he had conform to it.

We can see this in a passage from Exodus 25:40 “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” God’s instructions were clear.  Moses was no to make the items according to what he thought they should be but according to God’s design, his pattern.  The tabernacle was a foreshadowing of Christ and the plan of salvation.  It was not Moses’ plan; it was God’s and therefore it was his pattern.  Moses was simply to follow the pattern and to make the tabernacle exactly as God wanted it to be.

What a great truth this is for us today.  God has given us the pattern of Jesus Christ to follow.  We are to pattern our lives according to his commandments and follow his instructions with no alterations of any kind!  He is the pattern we are the material.  Our lives must be tailored, altered, pinned, cut, and trimmed so that we resemble the pattern exactly.  Moses did not have a choice about following the pattern and neither do we. 

The shirts now live on a shelf in my closet in dust-proof bags. They don’t fit like they did thirty-four years ago!  They are, shall we say, a little snug in some places.  But they look just as good as they did that day in the back hallway of our house on Main Street.  They stand as a testimony to my mom’s faithfulness, a faithfulness she continues to live out daily, a faithfulness that has taught me so much about God, his love, his mercy, and his grace.  Are you living your life today according to the pattern?