Have you ever been at Thanksgiving dinner, or a restaurant buffet, and overheard someone observing (usually with a little head shaking), “I guess his eyes were bigger than his stomach.” Whether literally or figuratively, probably most of us have bitten off more than we can chew at one time or another.

That’s exactly what I did recently.

 “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

Luke 14:28-30 MSG

Several years ago I figured out the easiest way to change a room’s decor is to change up the textiles, pillows, throws, window coverings, etc. And, bonus: pillow covers are super simple to make, plus, no one else will have ones just like them.

In God’s perfect timing, during the last couple of years He’s brought more people into our home than the previous two decades. It’s become very important to me to create a peaceful, welcoming space, a sanctuary. New pillow covers and other subtle changes seem in order.

I truly did count the cost, Dear Reader.

Online shopping for pre-made pillow covers, in stores for just the right fabrics at just the right price. What I didn’t include in the cost of sewing new covers was time. BIG MISTAKE. My eyes were bigger than my stomach.

Before starting the pillow covers, I made a table runner. Easy-peasy. When I was nearly finished with the first cover, there was a unexpected reminder that time hadn’t been added to the price.

No, Dear Reader, this is not a nasty wad of hair I pulled out of a drain. Nope, it’s a small portion of the knots my sewing machine suddenly started spewing out.

Smooth, even stitches had become a tangled mess of knots to be coaxed (okay, jerked) from the inner workings of the time guzzling sewing machine. All of a sudden time became an expensive commodity.

Does anyone else get thrown for a loop by something as insignificant as knotted thread? Does anyone else get frustrated after counting the cost, and things not going as planned?

Now look here, you people who say, ‘Today, or tomorrow, we will go to such-and-such a town and spend a year there, and trade, and make some money.’ You have no idea what the next day will bring. What is your life? You are a mist which appears for a little while and then disappears again. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live, and we shall do this, or that.’

James 4:13-15 NTE

The pillow covers still aren’t finished, but God is so good. He can use the slenderest thread to remind us that when we fall short in some way, His Word remains to guide and reassure us.