Hometown Madison - January & February 2017
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Camille Anding<br />
The Time Coin<br />
Alonely Grace stared out the frosted<br />
window, watching the blustery north<br />
winds make havoc of the carpet of<br />
brown leaves. The New Year’s <strong>January</strong> seemed<br />
to taunt the warm memories of Christmas.<br />
The frigid temps and relentless winds<br />
combined to add misery to her loneliness.<br />
The noise and warmth of her Christmas company were sorely<br />
missed. Grace turned her back to the drab winter scene and sat down<br />
near the fireplace. The corner where her Christmas tree had blinked and<br />
twinkled was just another lonely corner in her home. The fire glowed<br />
brightly, but it was the only bright thing in the room. Loneliness with its<br />
dreary gray cloak wrapped around Grace with a smothering grip.<br />
She retreated to her closet to find a sweater but instead, pulled a<br />
cherished quilt from the top shelf. Sitting with the cover made by her<br />
mother added a love layer of warmth over her entire body. Grace<br />
touched the stitches and traced their long-ago artistry. The stitches<br />
were tiny and uniform – the work of a veteran seamstress.<br />
Grace remembered many of the fabrics<br />
– remnants from handmade dresses her<br />
mother had sown. The pink and white checked<br />
gingham was a favorite Easter dress that Grace<br />
wore with her Easter “bonnet” and white<br />
gloves. The red, white, and blue stars were a<br />
Fourth of July memory.<br />
As Grace studied the quilt, her thoughts turned from her loneliness<br />
to the treasure on her lap. Her mother had taken remnants and tiny<br />
scraps to create a covering stitched in love. She could vividly picture her<br />
mother leaning over the stretched cotton canvas that her dad helped<br />
erect in the den.<br />
Grace had walked around her mother’s “quilt factory” many times<br />
but never associated the creation with a treasure. Time and inevitable<br />
change had reversed that.<br />
The quilt would warm Grace on this lonely day and transport her<br />
to long ago memories and the blessings of a happy childhood. God<br />
would use the quilt to teach her that remnants – even scraps can be<br />
transformed into works of beauty by His touch – no matter our age.<br />
And loneliness? For today, it would ride off on the winter winds. n<br />
58 • Jan/Feb <strong>2017</strong>
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