This is a lot of reading but after I created the quilt, I found this and it added such peace to my life, I gave it to all the family with their quilts.
I've been reading a novel by Julie Wright called "My-Not-So-Fairy-Tale Life". I found several thoughts in the book that really struck home with me and were great thoughts to live by and ideas to remember when we become too hard on ourselves.
The main characters were having a discussion, telling about their past, both good and bad and this thought evolved.
"The events in people's lives are just patches; every event is a different color or texture that gets sewn into a big elaborate quilt. I think it would be sad and very boring if all of us had perfect, uniform quilts. The color and variety is what makes us interesting people. That one patch in your past isn't who you are. It's just a part of the quilt. The whole quilt is who you are."
"The character goes on to say, 'My dad wrote me that in a letter after I'd had a few failings on my mission. I was feeling pretty bad about them and was completely down on myself. What he said made sense, and I knew he was right.' Those few bad days didn't define the kind of missionary (mother, father, person, friend, daughter, son and so forth) I was; they were just patches. And tomorrow there will be a different patch. The goal is to someday edge the entire quilt with the gold thread of understanding and growth and hand it to God and say, 'This is what I got out of life.....thanks.'"
The main characters were having a discussion, telling about their past, both good and bad and this thought evolved.
"The events in people's lives are just patches; every event is a different color or texture that gets sewn into a big elaborate quilt. I think it would be sad and very boring if all of us had perfect, uniform quilts. The color and variety is what makes us interesting people. That one patch in your past isn't who you are. It's just a part of the quilt. The whole quilt is who you are."
"The character goes on to say, 'My dad wrote me that in a letter after I'd had a few failings on my mission. I was feeling pretty bad about them and was completely down on myself. What he said made sense, and I knew he was right.' Those few bad days didn't define the kind of missionary (mother, father, person, friend, daughter, son and so forth) I was; they were just patches. And tomorrow there will be a different patch. The goal is to someday edge the entire quilt with the gold thread of understanding and growth and hand it to God and say, 'This is what I got out of life.....thanks.'"
As I’ve been working on these quilts for everyone that thought has continually come to mind. This quilt symbolizes Mom and Dad’s life (grandpa and grandma). I didn’t add good patches for their good times and bad patches for their bad times but I did make the patches from their past times. These are the clothes that they wore while they created their examples on earth and helped in the service of others. I found the sayings that they often shared and were quoted at their funeral. I wanted each of us to have this memory.
Now our job is to honor their example, serve others, and become ready to meet them once again in the eternities. As one of the speakers said at Fall conference, “I don’t want any empty chairs when we meet as a family in heaven. If Mom and Dad could talk to us right now I know they would say the same thing. They thought so much of their family. They were always talking about their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great…… They wanted our lives to be one of ease but I guess they forgot that we need the struggles and trials so we can enjoy the blessings and be prepared to meet them again.
Now we are here on earth as a family to honor their name and respect our family heritage. It would be my hope that we each singularly and as a family are able to stayed united, serve each other and continually grow so that we will each be there filling the chairs in the Hadley Family Kingdom.
I felt honored to be able to touch their things one last time as I prepared the quilt squares and put the quilts together for each of us. I feel honored that I was able to have my mom and dad for so long and I was able to learn so much from their example. I hope you too can feel that special opportunity we were given to know and be taught by such great people. No, they weren’t perfect but they knew how to ask for forgiveness, step it up a notch and then move forward. They were a great example for each of us to follow as we grow and serve others.
May we all remember who we are and honor our heritage. We are the Hadley anchor. They are waiting for us to return to them.
January 2009 75th Anniversary Party
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