Sewing Life by Carolyn

Occasionally, I take sewing to a little shop near my home. When I enter the shop the first thing I notice is a young woman lying on a hospital bed in a doorway to the work room, directly opposite the front door. It's easy to see her. I say a cheery, "Hello!" but she doesn't respond. I wait in a room stuffed with all kinds of clothing. Formal dresses and wedding dresses hang overhead on tracts. Obviously, lots of people come here, but I rarely see other customers. I wait for someone to come in response to the wind chimes that rang as soon as I entered. Suddenly, I hear laughter. Looking toward the sound, I see the young woman in the hospital bed is laughing outloud!

Before long a middle-aged, dark-haired woman appears. She looks at the work I have and in broken English she carefully says, "I must talk to my boss before we can accept this." She disappears and soon a tall, sturdy, gray-haired woman appears. She looks at my sewing and wonders why someone would slash the waist band on both sides of a pair of pants. I tell her that I volunteer at a nursing home and sometimes, in order to be comfortable, a resident will occasionally take things into their own hands. She becomes indignant. She nods to the woman in the hospital bed and says, "When she needs me I am there. Right now. Immediately. It burns me up to think there is not enough time to help people who need help immediately." I say nothing because I am fascinated by a picture of a young woman on the counter and the poem accompanies it.

My Name is Anna

Jesus came to me in disguise

With crippled legs and big brown eyes

The simplest things will make her laugh

All, that is , expcept her bath.

I don't know why Anna is in that chair

I don't know and I don't care

All I know is I love her for a million reasons

Cause kissing her is kissing Jesus.

Love, Your Sister, 1985"

I ask the tall gray-haired lady if I may copy the poem and share it with friends. She grins from ear to ear and says, "Oh! Please do!"

Psalm 139: 13-16 "For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Mark 9: 36,37 "He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me does not welcome Me but the one who sent Me.'" Deuteronomy 11:26 "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse." Proverbs 21 "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."

AMEN to God's purposes and plans! And AMEN to those who heed them!