Prayer Quilts

 

This is Saturday.  Today I had to work.  It's what I'm doing right now.  There is one lady in my vet clinic office that works every Saturday morning.  There are three of us that take turns working with her.  It's not a bad thing, but it sure makes your weekend short.  So, the good thing about working Saturdays is that it is so busy, the morning is gone before you know it and it going-home time.
Today, being done time was when I headed over to my church to join a group.  It is the Prayers and Squares group.  It was started a while back.  They meet periodically to cut, piece and sew quilt tops and then layer them up and sew them together and put threads in for tying.  It's a pretty big group for a church this size...for a town this size... But nothing is bigger than the prayers attached to each and every quilt that leaves the hands of this group.
When we receive a request, a quilt is chosen and the next Sunday, it is laid out on a table in the fellowship hall of our church.  A note is posted beside the quilt stating who will received the quilt and the things they have asked for prayer for.  Sometimes it is healing, sometimes it is strength, sometimes it is acceptance.  Everyone is invited to say a prayer as they tie a knot in the quilt.  The quilt is then delivered and often is taken to the hospital, to their home, to the Regional Cancer Center, to rehab.  They offer support and comfort in the form of something warm and huggable.  We have a couple of ladies who have taken charge of this project and  a couple of ladies that work close to them in this ministry.
A couple of times, like this morning, I've taken along a 16yr old boy from my house.  Originally, I pushed it as a great way to rack up some volunteer hours.  Last night he said, yeah, I need volunteer hours.  But he goes at 8 or 9am , even without me pushing, or even when I'm not going to be there until noon.  He sits with the older ladies of the church and puts strings into the layered pieces and he listens to the stories they tell of the old days.  He learns from them and they might even learn a thing or two from him.  He doesn't even know the gift he is getting from them.  Or probably the magnitude of the gift he is preparing for someone else.
You can read a little more about this here...