This poem has been around for years and years, yet it fits so beautifully with me, my blog, and my life being woven by God, the Master Weaver. I have been a weaver and spinner of wools for years, and know the time it takes to create a weaving, a simple wall weaving or a pillow. Imagine the intricacies of this body we live in, the skin, the eyes, one’s creative side, or our emotional makeup, and so much more … : )
I pray that I remain patient and hopeful as the LORD, my God, weaves the woof over and under the warps. One day He will, yes He will, be finished with me. I shall meet Him face-to-face.
Our lives are but fine weavings,
that God and we prepare,
each life becomes a fabric planned,
and fashioned in his care . . .
We may not always see,
just how the weavings intertwine,
but we must trust the Master’s hand,
and follow His design.
For He can view the pattern,
upon the upper side,
while we must look from underneath,
and trust in Him to guide.
Sometimes a strand of sorrow,
is added to His plan,
and though it’s difficult for us,
we still must understand.
That it’s He who flies the shuttle,
it’s He who knows what’s best,
so we must weave in patience,
and leave to Him the rest . . .
Not till the loom is silent,
and the shuttles cease to fly,
shall God unroll the canvas,
and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needed,
in the Weaver’s skillful hand,
as the threads of gold and silver,
in the pattern He has planned.
Psalm 139:13-17
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
LORD, thank You for weaving me into the girl that I was, the young woman I have been, the woman that I am today, and the one I shall be in the remainder of my days here on earth. As You complete this woven woman, LORD, make me complete in You. One day I shall meet You face-to-face and be Your woven masterpiece. I am grateful. I love You, LORD. Amen.
Hi, Could you please tell me if this poem is copyrighted or not? I understand the author is Grant Colfax Tullar and I would love to quote it in my family history but want to make sure I will not be breaking copyright. I would be MOST grateful for your reply.
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Fay, as a retired librarian, I have been researching in order to answer you with a question asked by many all over the internet. A Libray of Congress librarian gave an impeccable answer. You will find the actual answer to your question down near the base of her answer. I am going to post it on my blog because she answers more questions I have had here as well. My version is different from many on the internet. I am more confused than before but I still love the poem!
“We’ve received a fair few pieces written from pre-existing lyrics and we can only accept lyrics that are in the public domain. To check this, a bit of digging is needed. Here’s a recent reply to one of our lyric queries (The Weaver) from a very helpful researcher from the Library of Congress – a really interesting read, long but worth it! If you need any information like this, I highly recommend that you use the ‘ask a librarian’ service at the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/” ** This first paragragh is from http://www.theworshipbook.com/blog/lyrics-whodunnit
Here’s the excellent reply:
“Dear Ms. Hocking,
“I’ve gotten several questions about “The Weaver” in the last few years and this is what I have found in my research.
“As it turns out, there are many poems by many authors called “The Weaver,” so I was not entirely certain which one you mean. When I did a general Internet search, however, I found one poem credited to Corrie Ten Boom, Grant Colfax Tullar, and Benjamin Malachi Franklin which begins:
“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.
“So, I assume this is the poem you would like to know about. There are claims about several authors having written the poem.
I can rule out Corrie Ten Boom as there are a number of references to the fact that she read this poem by Tullar and then often recited it or quoted from it in her speeches giving him credit. You can find one such reference at http://www.elisabethelliot.org/newsletters/march-april-98.pdf by someone who heard her speak.
“I found the claim by Bob Corley about his grandfather Benjamin Malachi Franklin to be confusing. He states that his grandfather wrote the poem in the 1940s and that it was published in 1950 in The Memphis Commercial Appeal Newspaper. Mr. Corley says it was copyrighted in 2006, but I did not find anything by Franklin in the Copyright online catalog. There is nothing like this poem under the name Bob Corley and there are many different Robert Corleys, again with nothing like this poem. When I search by the title “The Weaver” I find dozens of items. And the registration number Mr. Corley provides seems to have too many digits.
“Searching by title is also problematic because I have found this poem on the Internet under a wide variety of titles including:
“The Weaver
The Weaving
Tapestry Poem
My Life is But a Weaving
Master Weaver’s Plan
Upper and Under Side
“You can search the Copyright catalog yourself at http://cocatalog.loc.gov, but I do not know if this will prove useful. The online catalog only goes back as far as 1978. You can have a search done by the Copyright Office of older card files, but a fee is charged. I also found many older examples of this poem published considerably before the 1940s.
“I then used Google Books http://books.google.com and the HathiTrust http://www.hathitrust.org as both these sites have many digitized books and some periodicals freely available full-text prior to 1923. The following citations come from The HathiTrust.
“The earliest citation I found was from:
“British Books in Print, 1910, volume 2 from something called “Bagster’s Quotation Cards.” Just the first part of the poem was given and listed as anonymous for the author.
“The Pacific” Vol. LXV, No. 42, October 20, 1915, page 81 also listed it as anonymous.
“Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen’s Magazine,” Volume 59, 1915, page 123 and again no author is provided.
“The Woman’s Label League Journal,” September 1919, p. 14 listed Rev. John Tabb. “The Holy Cross Purple, ” Vol. 33, October 1920-June 1921, p. 452 also listed Father Tabb with an article about his poetry.
“So John Banister (sometimes misspelled Bannister) Tabb, 1845-1909 is credited fairly early with this poem. Unfortunately, I have not found a specific date to tie together Grant Colfax Tullar, 1869-1950, to this poem and can not search all of his published works. You can get brief information on him from the Bolton (Connecticut) Historical Society at http://www.boltoncthistory.org/granttullar.html.
“Recognizing that poetry was often printed in newspapers, I then turned to the Chronicling America website available at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov where newspapers from 1836-1922 from across the United States are freely available. If you use the “advanced search” and search on the phrase “my life is but a weaving,” you’ll find the July 27, 1892 Somerset Herald from Somerset, Pennsylvania providing this poem with the author given as Florence May Alt. The poem credited to Alt also appeared in the Shenandoah (Virginia) Herald in 1892.
“I also did the same search in two subscription databases. I have attached a copy of the poem from “The American Farmer” as it appeared in August of 1892 with Alt as the author. The earliest copy I found citing Alt was from the Troy Weekly Times, Volume XXXVI, issue 42, page 6 from May 19, 1892.
“So, the potential authorship is between Alt, Tabb, and Tullar. I can pin an 1892 date to Alt. Tabb’s first published collection of poetry was in 1894 and the poem does not appear in it. He could, of course, have written the poem earlier and it might have appeared somewhere other than a book of published poetry. I didn’t find it in print until 1919, but there is no way to do a comprehensive search of all places the poem could have been published. Similarly, I have no date to tie the poem to Tullar.
“Amusingly, there are questions that appeared in the 1930s in the “Notes and Queries” column in the New York Times asking who the author of the poem is. No answer is provided!
“Without examining everything ever written by these three individuals, it is impossible for me to say for certain who the original author is. We now have three choices again, but at least we ruled out two of the three that are mis-attributed all over the Internet!
“While I am unable to rule on whether someone officially holds copyright (you would need to contact the Copyright Office http://copyright.gov/ ), it is clear that this poem was published before 1923 putting it in the public domain. Again, it might depend which version you are using, but there seem to be plenty published before 1923.
“I hope this answers your question, but if you have additional ones, please write again.
“Abby Yochelson
Reference Specialist
English and American Literature
Main Reading Room
Humanities & Social Sciences Division
Library of Congress
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I LOVE this poem and it has always lured me up and encouraged me
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To me, it is but the most wonderful and inspiring poem! Once I watched on television an interview with a woman, doing one-man shows on the life of Corrie ten Boom. And on that particular program, so recited this poem and she had a canvass in her hands with the threads hanging down from the underside. When she concluded, she turned the canvass around, and on the upper side was a tapestry of a royal crown! Oh, how I wish I could see that again, not the show, but the tapestry! If somebody does recall what I’m talking about and help me find it on Internet, I would be so grateful!
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What an encouraging poem. Thank you!
Also, thank you for following me. God Bless!
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Absolute hope and beauty. Thank you for this encouragement😍
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This is very encouraging.
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Thank you so much for this poem, and for presenting it in such a beautiful way! I recently sent it to a family in the form of a condolence card for their mother’s funeral. Im not a person to give just any card with frivolous quotes. But this poem says all I want to say in such a tender and sympathetic way. And the words are filled with meaning. THANKS again.
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Thank you for this page. I was searching the net for a tapestry wall hanging of this poem that my late sister had in her house with no luck. Do you know where I might find one? Would like one for myself as well as several friends. Thanks for any suggestions.
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Hazel, I do not know of such a tapestry wall hanging with this beautiful poem. I no longer weave or do needle type arts or I might have thought about creating one. The arthritis in my hands and the cervical surgery have halted this wonderful creativity I loved for so long. You might contact someone who does needlepoint or counted-cross stitch (or whichever form of art you would like this poem in) and ask them about doing such. I would think that either of two forms I just mentioned would be the best way to integrate this rather lengthy poem. I wish you the best in your search.
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There is another part to this poem. It starts with “He knows! He Loves! He Cares!”, but I can’t remember the rest. I read this poem and saved a copy about 45 years ago when it was called “The Shuttle Weaver”. I can’t seem to find my copy. Does anyone out there remember the rest of this poem? I’ll keep searching for mine.
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Dannie, @ http://thetapestrychurch.blogspot.com/2011/06/life-is-but-weaving-tapestry-poem.html
Life is But a Weaving
Corrie Ten Boom (The Tapestry Poem)
My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.
Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.
Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned
He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.
(Corrie Ten Boom often used this poem as she described a Tapestry that hangs currently at the museum. I recommend reading “The Hiding Place).
and @ http://www.bibleteachingnotes.com/templates/System/details.asp?fetch=9602
The Weaver
My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow,
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I, the underside.
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
Author Unknown
Note: | One version of this poem adds these concluding lines:
He knows, He loves, He cares.
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
who leave the choice with Him.
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