The Quilting Bee

Years ago, I taught a Bible study in my home.
It was a group of women that fit around my large kitchen table.
For many years after that particular season, I taught women’s Bible study in my church.
Now coming full circle, I am teaching in my home again.

What a blessing it is to have every seat filled with extra folding chairs in the family room.
What a blessing it is, that no matter what location, we can open the Word of God and study.
There is something about the dynamics of a women’s Bible study that is wonderfully unique.
There is something that happens in a women’s Bible study that knits us together.

Women are able to get to the heart of the matter.
A bond happens between women as we seek God to be the women He called us to be.
We have our own families, husbands, children, and grandchildren.
However, it is apparent that we women need each other.

We need the support and encouragement we get from other women.
We need to be with other women who have walked where we are walking.
We need to know that another woman understands.
We need to know that we are not alone.

Years ago, when I first started teaching in my home, I would bake something for us to share.
I had coffee and tea as well.
We would linger at the kitchen island for a bit and talk.
It was such a special time.

Occasionally, one of the women would have a burden that was too heavy for her to carry alone.
The trust we all had in each other took time to build.
Once established, it was true and it was real.
That woman would feel free enough to lay her burden down and we would pray for her.

There is something about carrying a burden with someone else.
The load is lightened.
The heaviness is lifted.
The weight is shared.

One of the dear women came up with a name for our sweet times of sharing hearts and praying.
She wisely called it our quilting bee.
I remember the day she gave it that name.
It captured the essence of what took place during those precious times of fellowship.

One particular day, I had confided in her that I felt bad that the Bible study was missed.
The women came to study the Bible and I felt that I had neglected the reason we gathered.
What we shared today was necessary, my friend said.
Women can feel so alone, so isolated; we need to know that we have our sisters to lift us up.

This is our quilting bee, she continued.
When the women sat around the quilting frame they were not just sewing, she remarked.
They shared news and burdens; they shared their hearts, she explained.
Making the quilt was secondary; it was fellowship and sisterhood that was needed.

I thought about what she said.
Those women sitting around the quilting frame went home to their families renewed.
The quilt was the overflow of that precious time of sharing hearts and minds.
The quilt and the relationships were both stitched in prayer.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

I saw a quilting bee lived out in an upstairs room at one of my favorite places.
I knew the room existed.
I pass it all the time when I go upstairs in the little shop I frequent.
I have seen quilts available for sale but never saw anyone actually making one.

When I visited the little shop, I noticed all the Amish buggies in the back of the store.
Some of the Amish women help in the store so I assumed that was the reason.
I could never have anticipated what I saw when I went upstairs.
There in the back room were quilting frames lined up across the entire space.

Around the quilting frames were more Amish women than I could count.
I tried to watch them without being too conspicuous.
Each woman was working on the square that was directly in front of her.
They talked quietly as they delicately stitched the fabric.

They talked in English and Pennsylvania German, going back and forth with ease.
They were very serious as they quilted.
There were young women and very old women around the quilting frames.
Much more than a quilt was being sewn.

News was shared.
Hearts were knitted.
Burdens were lifted.
Prayers were spoken.

The quilting bee is needed no matter the age or the culture.
It may only be a metaphorical quilting bee, but it is a gathering none the less.
It is so important that as women we know we are not alone.
It is so necessary to know that other women are going through similar life experiences.

A quilt is made.
A tapestry is completed.
The sharing of one woman’s heart with another.
Something beautiful is made while something beautiful is shared.