FEELING THE LOVE . . .

The old quilt . . .

Its softness is enhanced

By age and use.

Its colors faded by the light of many days,

And its fibers show wear

Yet its beauty is all I see,

All I feel,

And all I know.

Its story is one of patience

And of time and effort.

It  contains both pain and pleasure.

The fabrics of many lives intertwined

To become one . . .

It is not one story,

But rather generations of stories

Shared by the fire,

Told over tea,

Revealed as fine thread

Wove scraps of many lives

Into something too beautiful not to share.

By Martha L Shaw – © 2013

 

Love Is Like

The old quilt . . .

Its softness is enhanced

By age and use.

Its colors faded by the light of many days,

And its fibers show wear

Yet its beauty is all I see,

All I feel,

And all I know.

Its story is one of patience

And of time and effort.

It  contains both pain and pleasure.

The fabrics of many lives intertwined

To become one . . .

It is not one story,

But rather generations of stories

Shared by the fire,

Told over tea,

Revealed as fine thread

Wove scraps of many lives

Into something too beautiful not to share.

By Martha L Shaw – © 12-16-2013

This lovely quilt, subject of the symbolism in my poem, goes back multiple generations in my family and is approx 150 years old.  Oh, the stories it has to tell me are many!

 

 

 

 

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Sunday Post: Surroundings

Your love comes softly, like a comfy quilt on a cool spring morning . . .

I am warmed by your presence as we stroll life’s gardens together

and as the sun rises, all is aglow and I blush for each flower

–

is like a kiss from you and a reminder of our love.

by Martha L Shaw – Copyright 11-9-2012  Words, photographs, and quilts are the author’s own work.

 

For more about the Sunday Post Challenge, click this image:

Loved By Jesus

Meet Teddi Cha. She’s not perfect but Jesus loves her. She has sparkly bling on her apron top/bib and has a cross tattoo on her little butt. She is a one of a kind original like the one who hand stitched her . . . who is also imperfect but loved by Jesus.

She started out as a pair of unwanted slipper socks, but when you look at your circumstances or your slipper socks in a new way changes happen and things become new and different and perhaps lot better.  In Teddi Cha’s case, turning a slipper sock inside out (as I pondered why anyone would wear the foolish things) made me realize that they were fuzzy inside . . . and the strange white rubbery squiggles on the bottom do not show a bit when you turn life (or socks) inside out and give them another look . . .

 

A Day of Peace

I had a holiday today!  No, not the one y’all had, although it is that as well.  I set aside the worries, the stress, the “gotta figure out” and the “how’my gonna” and didn’t worry about my eye sight, my bills comin’ due, the job market, and the rest of it.  I did whatever I felt like, with His leading me . . .  wow, peace is a wonderful thing. 

I’ve had so many things in life happening all at once and all “do it now” sorts . . . you know how that is.  Complicated by the lack of ability to do some of these things for various reasons and thus the list grows . . . you know that too, I know.  So, since using a computer means I can read easier as I can make things LARGE and clear, I set aside the many books I would have curled up with and read things online.  I did lots of writing, I hung out with a lot of Jesus’ favorite people, and I shared Him with some . . .

I worked on my book, too.  Yup, I paused to mow the lawn and run out to buy more half and half (nobody at the grocery on the holiday – go figure) and then finished making a quilt for myself.  Here it is:

Sorry the photo is unclear, but I don’t have a camera anymore and so I use my phone for that for now.  This quilt is called “Summer at Cape Cod” for it was inspired by summer trips to visit Uncle Bob.  I can taste the chowda, smell the salt air, and see the soft weathered gray cottages, the white picket fences, the crushed shell driveways, the flowers . . . Oh, the beauty of the ocean and the soft breezes . . . this quilt is all of that to me.  The border and binding, which doesn’t show well here, is reminiscent of wicker and trellises, and such in its white on white linear print. 

The unsolved mysteries of my life will be there tomorrow, but maybe the gentle breezes in my heart and memory and the ocean’s waves have combined forces to make some of the worries go away.  Peace is a wonderful thing.  It’s a gift inside me.  I think I need to open it more often.

Brightness of God

The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Isaiah 60:18-20”

I am feeling a bit off today and even with the sun shining in my window, the birds singing, and my Lord holding me close to His heard and residing in my own, I still needed to go deeper in seeking the brightness that I was somehow missing.  This quilt I just finished piecing, a wall hanging, reflects His brightness and glory.  Without which my life can never be all He desires it to be.  At the center of this quilt is the cross on which He died and surrounding it are smaller crosses . . . we must all carry the cross – the ultimate expression of His unending love.