You knit me together in my mother’s womb

Sr. Pilar Verzosa,RGS (1944-2012)

"I offer each stitch and turn the yarn with a prayer intention.
I think of how God was present in each and every fiber
of my being ever since I was in mother's womb."

“It was you who formed my inmost part and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Even my bones were known to you when I was being formed in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth. I thank you for the wonders you have done.”

(Psalm 139:13-15)

I like to knit.  I knit bags, shawls, sweaters, baby booties and bonnets. I knit while waiting in the airport or bus stations.  I learned to knit from the Belgian nuns in St. Theresa’s College where I studied from kindergarten to high school.  One nun, Sr. Magda, taught me how to make small sweaters for the children in the Mountain Province.  She would reap the huge men’s sweaters donated from Belgium and motivate me to knit them for those poor cold children in the mountains.  That was when I was in Grade 5. Maybe that was when the seeds of a missionary vocation was planted in my heart.

I could talk about vocations and the religious life or being a missionary, but now I would like to share with you what I learn from knitting.  You might ask – what can one learn from knitting?  Aren’t you supposed to just cast the stitches on the knitting needle and work from row to row until you get whatever you are knitting all done?

Right! But it is in the “from row to row” that many things happen. FOCUSING is the first thing. If I don’t concentrate on how many stitches there are in a row, or think of what stitch I will do next, the design will not turn out as the pattern indicates. Now this does not mean that I cannot think of anything else while I am knitting – and that can be while I am riding the bus to Baguio or to Naga. I can still enjoy the scenery as I look up every now and then from my knitting, chat with my seatmate, or watch a full show on television even while knitting.  I offer each stitch and turn of the yarn with a prayer intention. I think of how God was present in each and every fiber of my being ever since I was in my mother’s womb.

PATIENCE is another virtue I just have to practice in order to finish an article – no shortcut, no skipping a row. This is hand-done knitting, not machine-made like most of your socks and sweaters and T-shirts now.  Each article I make is truly a work of love because of the time I put into it. Wow! What patience my mother must have gone through the nine months I was in her womb – kicking around, causing her discomfort and heaviness, sleepless nights and cramps.  No wonder she loves me so much even if I sometimes become nasty and ungrateful to her.

CREATIVITY and IMAGINATION –begin with the end in mind.  Isn’t that one of Steven Covey’s Seven Rules of Successful People?  And to think that I have been practicing that since I was 10 years old when I first learned how to make a knitted headband. Actually, it took me three months to finish that eight-inch headband. Phew! Tough for a 10-year-old to sit quietly, balance the knitting needles and make sure the yarn does not fray or knot.  But my teacher-nun was there beside me, showing me what a finished product would look like, trying it on my head every now and then until I finally reached the last row.  God must have great imagination to create each one of us in such a unique fashion. Do you know that at the moment of fertilization, when the sperm cell and egg cell unite, the chromosomes and genes begin programming this new human being to have two arms and two legs, not four legs?! And what’s more – that embryo knows exactly when to develop its heart and brain cells, bones and muscles. At three months, it is thumb-sucking and swimming around, hears his or her mom’s voice and enjoys listening to her heartbeat.  Yes, only a God could have thought of all that.  Computers and robots are just that – robots!

HUMILITY – that’s my waterloo. But knitting teaches me that making a mistake is part of life and I just have to learn to admit my mistakes, go over the material, rip and redo it more carefully this time.  I could just gloss over my mistake and leave a hole here and a run there. But what a shame that would be – wearing a supposedly newly made vest with holes and gaps.  And shame is not humility.  The Son of God humbly took on flesh in His Mother’s womb. But he was not ashamed to undergo the passion in reparation (to repair) for the sins of humankind.

And finally, GRATITUDE – that I still have good eyes to see what I am knitting, hands  to hold the needles and fingers to loop the yarn,  friends who give me the needles and  nice colored yarn,  knitting tutors when I am stuck in a design, and above all TIME.  Yes, in spite of a schedule of giving pro-life seminars, weekly radio programs, counseling, managing the office,  community prayers and activities and daily exercise  – I still have time for my knitting.  It is the hobby I have chosen as I glide towards my retirement years.  Retirement? Ah – twenty years from now?

By the way, I also make mobile/cell phone pouches. Call me if you want to make an order. State your name, age, status, address, educational attainment, awards, jobs, present position and P1,000 donation to Pro-life!

(Sr Pilar Verzosa, RGS, Founder of Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, peacefully joined her Creator last Sept 9, 2012 . This article she wrote was published in Life is for Everyone Newsletter year 2005. )