Great God, this day we come before You with open hearts, open minds, and open souls to the work You would have us do in Your name this day. May we bring Your love and encouragement to those who are in need. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our house is a small house. Each room, except for the bathroom, is a multipurpose room. The quilting room is also home to the son’s Military kit, the husband’s bike, a spare door, Pipe Band kit, spare closet doors, and a roll of carpet. Fitting quilting into any home is interesting. Frequently on blogs and websites are photos of other quilter’s rooms… or studios. Some quilters claim the basement as their room. Some quilters claim the spare bedroom as the quilting room. It is so easy to be envious of other quilter’s studios/rooms. At our house this summer, we re-walled in an original bedroom. This room was used as a dining room for the previous owners. And I used the room as a office/sewing room. But after taking radon levels of our basement, we thought it a good idea to move son upstairs into a bedroom. So out went the office and quilting room and up went the walls to create a bedroom upstairs. The quilting room moved partially downstairs. There is no space for the sewing machine and ironing board downstairs so they remain in the kitchen. I am still not quite used to the new space and frequently end up trying not to do backflips over the bike rack nor get bike oil on the fabrics. And all that military kit has sooo much fabric that is just the right shade of green…hummm! But it is off limits for quilting. Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged with a place not being neat and tidy. Or not having any quilting stores in the community to purchase a bit of fabric or visit with other quilters.
I’ve been working on a Kaffe Fassett quilt and ran out of available solid or tone on tone oranges, yellows, reds, and pinks fabrics. So that project is now waiting upon a day when fabric (and budget) will allow. Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged when there isn’t enough money in the family budget to purchase fabric and batting and thread. Yet, each day there is always some kind of joy and encouragement if one opens one’s heart and eyes. Moving into a new quilting space meant I’ve unearthed quilt blocks from 2006. Time to get this one completed!
St. Andrew’s Brandon has one quilter in the congregation. It is wonderful to have someone say, “So have you quilted this week?” An affirmation of enthusiasm. A pat on the back of encouragement. How neat is that!!! This same enthusiasm must be in our Churches (you knew I would bring the Church into this didn’t cha :). A Church without enthusiasm or a Session without enthusiasm is a place lacking in joy. So this week…. priority after much prayer and Museum paperwork….. is to sew one block onto this quilt. Yahoo. We seek God’s enthusiasm always. How will you bring enthusiasm into your Church this day?
Great and Mighty God, we thank You for all the people we have in our lives. We thank You for the gift of encouragement and enthusiasm that we share with others. Help us this day O LORD to be an encourager to everyone we meet so that when evening comes we can sit in Your presence and delight in Your praise. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
