Remnants

If we were a piece of fabric, we would probably think the only thing worse than being sat on the shelf after being bought is not being bought at all. No, I take that back. If we are a bolt in the store, there is hope that we are going to be bought and used. The true fear is being a remnant in the store. That piece that is less than a yard that the purchaser of the fabric doen't want to spring for because it is not needed for the project at hand. There you are, right there for the taking...and someone doesn't think you are worth having. The remnant is the leftover, small enough that it is not necessarily useful, but 100% part of the rest of the bolt...just as good of quality, beauty, and color...all the things the rest of the bolt was, but you aren't needed. You get rolled up in a ball and discounted, because not only does the purchaser not want you, but the storeowner doesn't want you around any more either. You are worth less... but not worthless. There is still value in you...you are still bought with a price, but oh, you believe that you are unloved and unworthy.

The passages in scripture, however, reflect a different opinion of God toward remnants. He preserved them for Himself. I don't know how many times in scripture that God speaks of preserving the remnant. The bulk of the people of Israel went their own way, did their own thing, worshipped other gods, or left God out of their lives. Those things He destroyed. But He always kept for Himself that little group of people who would worship Him only, walk in His ways when others walked away, and that would endure through the destruction to rebuild the nation that would follow Him again.

I love the passage in 1 Kings 19 where Elijah is depressed. Life is horrible...Jezebel is after him with armies...he is exhausted, hungry, and scared. He doesn't know where to hide...and he just wants to die instead of facing what he feels is the inevitable...death via Her, public humilitation before that. He swears that he is the only one left on earth that is zealous for the Lord, and the rest of the world is after him to kill him, not to seek him as the Prophet of God. God doesn't use the word remnant here, but He does tell us exactly what He is refering to when He uses it elsewhere. Verse 18 says that 7000 men are out there preserved to do God's work. He reminds Elijah that he is not alone, he is not worthless, but part of a bigger group of the faithful. They are the remnant preserved.

But what do you do with a remnant? Well, you may not make a wedding dress or a large backing for a quilt, or a pair of pants, but you can make a small thing. My remnants become burp cloths, pencil cases, coin bags for the church kids, ornaments for the tree...

The cotton and flannel ones become scrap quilts. Those remnants are pooled together to do what one piece of fabric alone cannot do...make a colorful combination of pieces joined into a pattern of stars, bars, logs, or blocks that sparkle with variation, hue, texture, and contrast. Sometimes the remnant bin is exactly where I go when I hit the stores. These bits and pieces can add the very spark or blend that I need to make the project work, or even sing! They may not cost as much, but that makes them even more exciting. I have seen people go crazy over scrap bags and remnant bins because they get a little taste of something missing from their stash, that little something that adds to the pieces they already own. And they rejoice over them. It doesn't take much of some fabrics for them to work into a quilt block...as a matter of fact, with too much of some pieces, the project would be gaudy or they would detract from rather than add to the overall effect of the pattern.

Are you letting God use the little bit of you there may be left? Do you know that you have great value, even if you aren't the most expensive bolt on the shelf, or have been discounted by the world? The point is not your value, but how you are used in small ways to do something on your own, like burp a baby as a cloth, or to do your small part in working together with others to make the article whole, and valuable, and good. God chose the remnant to glorify Himself...and if you are one, that is a great thing! Let Him use you. Let Him make you more with others than you can be yourself. Add your voice to the chorus. You never know when your color, your size, your pattern, your design is just what God needs to make His church whole.

And the price He paid to have you, little scrap, was His own Son. Because He was priceless, you are priceless...and preserved, just like the remnants of old.

Amen.