I love quilts! I love looking at them and I love sewing them. There is something homey about them. And of course the variety is a delight to the imagination. I got to go to a quilt show last Saturday and Sunday. I had hoped to post pictures, but that is not allowed by the guild. But I can post the web site. The winners of this year are posted there.
More wonderful than seeing the quilts, was experiencing them with a good friend. Now, she isn’t just any friend. In fact, I had never met her in person until Saturday. Yet we’ve been corresponding for months. We met via the Tapestry of Grace (TOG) yahoo group. She is also an Air Force wife and last winter she found out that her husband was going to be stationed in my hometown. A few months ago they made the big move from Germany to their new home near the base. My husband works at this base too. However we are a 45-minute drive from the base.
In vain, we have tried to meet throughout the summer. Hindered by deluge rain falls, separate vacations and my son’s walking pneumonia, we were determined to one day meet. Knowing her love of quilting, I invited her to lunch and the quilt show which would be held on Sat. She agreed, the weather was great, and I stayed healthy (no small feet in this house where my dh is now coughing.)
Joyously we met with huge hugs. We sat down like old friends, sharing deeply from the heart, laughing over lunch, fueled by our common love for Jesus and our commitment to God and family. What could be more incredible than sharing time with another sister in Christ?
Friends are like quilts. They are beautiful. My friend beautifully accepted me for who I was. Quilts are cozy and comfortable. No one would have known my friend and I had never before met in person. Our friendship comfortably fit. Like people, quilts have a variety of patterns. There are traditional quilts, like traditional friendships where people meet face to face first and then form common bonds. Other quilts are contemporary, like the friendship my TOG friend and I have, meeting through new fangled technology before meeting face to face. Like favorite quilts, I have favorite friendships. To me, the best friendships are the ones, like my TOG friend, who loves and serves Christ. How beautiful they are.
How beautiful the hands that served
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty roads and the hill to the cross
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
How beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
And as He lay down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price Willing to pay the price
How beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King
How beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
Words and Music by Twila Paris
• Sep. 18, 2007 - Encouragment