The Family Quilt

Thanksgiving is my personal favorite holiday for three, I’d say, pretty legitimate reasons: Fall foliage and the coziness that comes with autumn, the spread of delicious, soul-filling food and the extended family that you rarely get to be with is suddenly around your table as if you’re picking back up where you left off.

This was our son’s first “big” holiday with family and we were gleefully ready to have him meet many of the “village” that have supported us in our journey to bringing him into the world.

As we spent time sharing him with our people, I couldn’t help but become misty-eyed as I thought about how very precious these moments were.

He’s three months old and just now becoming more aware of the world around him. He can look into your eyes and will often grin with cheer at any type of silly gesture. However, he will not be able to recall those silly gestures, playful smiles and loving gazes that the people of our village so freely give him. So, as much as I can remember, I snap that pic.

These gatherings that bring us together often remind us of the vapor that time is and how the tides of change will be sure to show up from one to the next.

One day, a day that will come all-too-quickly, we will be able to show our son “his village,” just as my parents showed me mine. I hope he will feel, just as I did, the sense of belonging and joy of being stitched into the fabric of family. A strong sense of family-belonging is like a quilt with many patches sewn tightly together. It’s a blanket you can take with you, no matter how far you roam. I needed my familial blanket more times than I can count, and my prayer is that Beckett will remember to take his on his own journey through life. So, for now, I’m stitching his quilt.

This holiday season, I hope you’re taking a moment to take count of your village and appreciate them, stitching the quilt for the next generation. Because the piles of gifts and plates of food are nice, but the soul-warming atmosphere when you’re surrounded by the people whom we care about the most is a God-given blessing to never take for granted.

Happy quilting, friends!