When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal.  I
would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was
doing.  She informed me that she was embroidering.  As from the
underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round
hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked
messy from where I sat.

She would smile at me, look down and gently say, "My son, you go about
your playing for a while, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I
will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side."

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright
ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view.  A few minutes would
pass and then I would hear Mother's voice say, "Son, come and sit on my
knee."

This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower
or a sunset.  I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked
so messy.

Then Mother would say to me, "My son, from underneath it did look messy
and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on
the top.  It was a design.  I was only following it.  Now look at it
from my side and you will see what I was doing."

Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and
said, "Father, what are You doing?"  He has answered, "I am embroidering
your life."
I say, "But it looks like a mess to me.  It seems so jumbled.  The
threads seem so dark.  Why can't they all be bright?"

The Father seems to tell me, "My child, you go about your business of
doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on
My knee and you will see the plan from My side."