A Patchwork Country

 

Photo by Nathan Bang on Unsplash 

Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored.

Lamentations 5:21 NKJV

Quilts --- small colored pieces of cloth stitched together in a pleasing pattern to provide comfort, warmth, and protection against the cold. 

I'd much rather have a quilt than a blanket. If you've seen one blanket, you've seen them all. Not so many years ago, women saved their scraps from the family clothes to make winter quilts. Often those scraps held memories of family events or funny stories. Scraps were saved from baby clothes, men's jackets, and even mourning clothes. My Papa bought a bolt of white cloth so Grandma could make the family Easter clothes, a dress for their little girl, a dress for her, and a Sunday shirt for Papa. Without thinking, Grandma dyed the whole bolt --- pink!

Yes, Papa wore his new pink shirt with his overalls that Easter of 1925. Wouldn't a piece of Papa's shirt make a great piece for a quilt? Their little girl had recovered from infantile paralysis. Wouldn't a piece of her dress make another great square? 

Our country is a patchwork of people: a variety of colors, cultures, and experiences. The colors and cultures make us an interesting lot of people. We are known as a melting pot. Some of our experiences are fun like the German Christmas trees. Some of our experiences are more difficult to express, like statues of the people who for good or bad are part of our country's history.  Like our grandmothers' quilts, there are squares of happy memories of babies, funny squares of a man's pink shirt, and sad squares, the mourning clothes of a mother who lost her son in battle. With all the different experiences, there is one thing we have in common. Search the quotes of our founding fathers, past presidents, and America's early educators. Despite all the noise of those with agendas, the evidence shows we were founded on Judeo-Christian values. 

Jeremiah's prayer in Lamentations pleads for the Lord to turn us back and restore us. It is not too late to open our hearts to God's word and let His truth and His love unite us, bind us together like the stitches in a quilt. Then we would be a pleasing sight, a place of comfort, and protection for all the world to see. A nation, like a city on a hill sending the light for all to see. 

Heavenly Father, like Jeremiah, we plead O Lord, that You would turn us back and restore us to Yourself.  Restore us to the nation we once were, a place of refuge and comfort. A nation of melded peoples, customs, and traditions into one nation under God. In Jesus's name, we pray. Amen