A Covering Stitched with Love

Key Verse: “She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all in her household are doubly clothed. She makes her own bed coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple.” Proverbs 31: 21-22 (CSB)

My husband’s grandparents were small town farmers. Their income came mostly from selling cows and through a crop of tobacco each year.  According to today’s standards, they would have probably been described as poor.  There was no big fine house in a subdivision and no shiny new cars in the driveway. The clothes they wore were often hand me downs and his grandmother probably never owned one designer bag her entire lifetime. 

What they did have could have best been described as a roof over their head, clothes on their backs and shoes on their feet. Despite not owning lots of worldly goods, they were rich in so many other ways. They had an immeasurable amount of love for each other, the most mouth watering food on the table and a whole lot of Jesus. 

I have a small slightly torn quilt that his grandmother brought to life. It was given to me when I got married and is something I treasure. It serves as an example of what most of the other quilts she owned looked like. All made by hand. Each one stitched with love from pieces of her family’s clothes as they were outgrown or a tiny piece was torn and couldn’t be repaired.  Instead of throwing them away, she put every piece to use to make sure her family was covered in warmth every winter. 

I saw a video of a little girl singing “the coat of many colors” this week. It made me think of Iona’s quilts and the verses in Proverbs 31 that says, 

“She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all in her household are doubly clothed. She makes her own bed coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple”. Proverbs 31:21-22 (CSB)

I admit God has blessed our family with more stuff than Iona’s family. I have never quilted and I tried sewing but I just don’t have the patience for it. Store bought it has mostly been for my family aside from quilts my own mother has made and passed down.  

 God stirred in my heart that even though I have not sewed together a quilt or put together my own “coat of many colors” I have pieced together a covering just the same.  I have passed one down to my daughter, my only child.  I am currently helping craft another for my grandson. 

I am cutting pieces of Gods word and one at a time I am layering and crafting them together through their life experiences that will someday be what will help keep them warm from the winter cold and dry from the wind and rains of life.  Words that have been stitched to their hearts to always trust in our Heavenly Father above.  

Of all the things I could have bought and given my daughter teaching her God’s word will serve as the most precious gift of all. Handbags will come and go with the season. Designer clothes and shoes cast aside and forgotten about next year. But the Word I have sewed together to clothe her and accessorize her wardrobe will last a lifetime. 

Each piece has been pieced together with love and held together by prayer. Like the piece when my daughter had trouble making friends and felt discouraged and alone. I stitched in the verse that reads, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and that Jesus “is that friend that sticks closer than a brother”.  Proverbs 18:24 (KJV)

The piece taken from Daniel 1:17 that taught her to do her best but that “God gave these four Hebrew children knowledge and understanding.” I taught her that God will always do the same for her. A word that gave her confidence and quietness when she suffered from anxiety and stress during exams. 

She is grown now but this week she added a piece of her own.  She needed a little extra layer to cover her through the winds of uncertainty in this pandemic season of Cov-19.  She added a piece taken from Psalm 91.  

Don’t ever think dear mother and grandmother that you don’t have anything of value to give your kids and grandkids or that you can’t possibly do anything that will make a difference. If you are passing down love and Jesus, you are passing down wealth that surpasses it all.

I have spent extra time with my grandson showering him with love this pandemic season and using every opportunity to teach him God’s word. Adding pieces to a covering that me and his mother are working on together.  One day when he is older it will be passed down too and worn for a lifetime.