Why Divine Thread?

Aelred of Rievaulx (d. 1167) once preached a sermon at the death of a young monk in his community where he compared the inability to understand the death of one so young to looking at the reverse of a tapestry. Such a view shows only knots and loose ends and makes no sense. It is only when the tapestry is viewed from the other side that its beauty and sense is understood. Only when we view our lives from the “other side” will it make sense, often that can only be done in heaven. There we will also see that golden or divine thread running through our lives that reveals the constant presence of God, making sense of all the knots and loose ends.