Growing up, I spent hundreds of hours watching my Mom sew. She was not a professional seamstress, although her work was professional-level, and she did receive payment for work she did for others. In the corner of her sewing room was a large cabinet, full of original sewing patterns folded and tucked neatly in their envelopes. When she got a new pattern, she let me carefully trim and press the patterns made from fine tissue paper, then help her pin them to the fabric she would then cut out, place the markings for zippers, buttons, darts, folds, and pleats, then assemble the pieces into a beautifully sewn, handmade piece of clothing.

One of my first attempts at sewing on my own was making a shiny new dress for a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s house. I trimmed and ironed the pattern, placed it on the fabric I had purchased with my own money, cut it out, sewed it up, and, “Oh, no!” The dress fit perfectly and was nicely sewn; however, it was shiny on the back of the dress, but the fabric was dull on the front. My dress wasn’t wearable, and I was upset that I spent the entire day working on it and had wasted my money. I asked my Mom what went wrong. Although I had pinned and trimmed and sewn carefully, I had not followed the directions to place the pattern correctly on the grain of the fabric. It was a costly and upsetting mistake!

Philippians 3:17 Brothers and sisters, together follow my example and observe those who live by the pattern we gave you.

The Apostle Paul told the Philippians (and us) to follow the Christ-like example he had set, and observe those who live by the pattern given them. The pattern—the original—is Jesus Christ Himself. He shows us how to live, what to say, how to think, what to pray. That is His Pattern for us so we may fully and maturely become who God created us to be. Patterns are important for us to follow, but we must also follow the instructions that come with them. Mimicking a pattern without giving heed to the instructions will leave us with lives that are frustrated, dull and unusable, rather than the beautiful, complete, shiny life that God wants for us.