Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Darning a Hole in Your Community

Last night, our neighborhood launched the second year of Monday Night Neighborhood Fitness Group in the parking lot.  We had children and adults jumping rope while others biked, skated, threw football and Frisbee, walked a circuit around the perimeter, flew the big turtle kite, or raced up the steep hill beside the parking lot.

From above, I wondered if we looked like one huge mass of criss-crossing elements filling in the space.  We wove in and out, passing one another.  

I thought of darning. 

Darning is the technique one uses to repair a hole in fabric or knitting.  I learned that a knitter makes a framework around the hole and then uses a crisscrossed pattern to fill the gap.  My friend alerted me to this concept two days ago when I mentioned that the beautiful socks she knit me last year were beyond repair with two gaping holes in the heels.  She says, matter-of-factly, "I'll just darn them for you."  

Darning reminds me of how scabs form on the body.  Platelets, fibrin, and plasma all work together to form a web around the wound--filling it in and sealing the hole. 

There's something beautiful in the webbing and criss-crossing that must take place to repair a hole or a wound.  It happens when we repair fabric or our own bodies, but it also happens in our lives.

I thought about my community and all the ways we hold each other in place, all the ways we intersect, gather in, unite, and fill each others lives. We choose to deliberately criss-cross.  We are wound healers when we come together like this. 

Something was darned in my heart last night--some gaping hole I hadn't remembered was there.  I only played for an hour.  The sun set upon us, shining gold through the trees in the distance, and there I was, jumping double dutch (making a fool of myself) with these folks I'm living life with. We aren't related by blood.  We were strangers a few years ago--some a few days ago.  Now, we are something else.   I'll gather on the asphalt every week with these people:   platelets, fibrin, and plasma that circle, web, and heal.

5 comments:

jentsieh said...

What an incredible idea! I found your link after you posted on Beth Moore's site. I look forward to reading more of your blogs...and wish I lived close by to join in your neighborhood nights!

Anonymous said...

I agree, I'd love to be in your neighborhood. I always like your posts, but this one is particularly beautiful. I fully admit to being a sap.
~brook

Charity said...

Yep, I wish I was in your neighborhood too! :)

jenny_o said...

Beautiful analogy.

We mend the fabric of our family every time we interact, too. Nice to think about.

Bradley J. Moore said...

I wonder if the same concept applies in online communities - a lot of weaving and intersecting and connecting going on, and many times it heals and encourages. What do you think?