Scarlet Thread

Needlework is the controlling image in "Scarlet Thread." JJ Heller sings, "life left a stain on me... I am a mess of stitch and string," and then adds the line that gives the song its title: "there is a scarlet thread woven through me when everything's unraveling." The red thread points to Christ's redemption and recalls Isaiah 1:18, where scarlet sins are made white.

The verses speak to God directly. "You see the beauty in broken things," she sings, and "beneath the flaws and worn-out heart, You're turning tangles into a work of art." That is the sense of Isaiah 61:3 on beauty for ashes and 2 Corinthians 5:17 on becoming new.

A question comes up twice, "where would I be if You're not with me? Where would I go? I don't want to know." The bridge answers with a prayer, "bind the broken places, fill the empty spaces with Your peace, all I need is You," which parallels Psalm 147:3, where God binds up the brokenhearted. The lyric is short, at about 667 characters, and revolves around a single image.