I love this quote from E.M. Forster. “What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?” I fill my days with all of God’s colors and creations. I sit in the swing this morning watching the songbirds enjoying the feeders and the bird baths. The sky is a sea of sapphire, cloudless and clear. The yellow butterflies are dancing from one side of the yard to the other, warming their wings in God’s sunshine. The big fuzzy bumblebees are climbing inside the delicate petunia blossoms. A hummingbird sips nectar from a hot pink zinnia. The wind chimes are softly pinging out a quiet lullaby. All is well at my slice of heaven on earth. No touch of fall in the air this morning, the day quickly turned to summer as it grew into afternoon.

Now eventide is invading my yard, getting ready to bed down the day and say hello to the darkness of night. I’m sitting in the swing as Mother Nature brushes a crystal pink across the horizon. The sun set as a bright ball of blinding white light tonight. I watched and waited for Mother Nature to dip her paint brush in turquoise but the day was put to sleep in a pale pink backdrop, beautiful in its quietness of color.

All is quiet except the circling chimney swifts, chattering excitedly in their spherical flights around my house, enjoying their supper of insects. I love this time of day as the daylight slowly fades and the night wakes. Eventide is the mystical light that fades as we transfer from the day’s activities to rest in the darkness of night. In the Bible we read eventide was a time for contemplation, a time for spiritual encounters, a time for people to gather together for healing. Mark 1:32 states, “That evening after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door. He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits.”

As I sit in my reading chair writing tonight my eyes rest on a pile of folded quilts. All different — one sewn with the love of an older age, some purchased for their bird patterns, one crocheted with a friend’s love. I’m reminded of a quote, “Our lives are like quilts — bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love,” Unknown. Psalm 139:14 reads, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My soul knows it very well.” I think God designs our lives as a quilt, woven and stitched together with Christian faith. Our quilt tops, designed as we live our lives, are crafted with strong bonds of love and family, each cotton square quilted with our prayers and dreams, our memories and personal experiences.

Our quilt begins taking shape at birth, pure white with the innocence of our childhood. As we grow and develop, we have joyful yellow and orange and pink and red squares added to the quilt. Leaving our childhood we add plaid squares of dark blues and purples for teenage angst. Marking our passage to adulthood, bright green squares for life and vitality, baby pink and light blue squares stitched in thanksgiving for our children and grandchildren. As our quilt top design continues we add squares of grays and inky blacks for life’s trials and challenges. Finishing our quilt is a border of happy colorful calico squares marking the beautiful twilight of our old age.

Finally our quilt is stuffed with the cotton of memories and love we have for family and friends. Serving as the backing of our quilt is our deep abiding Christian faith, giving us strength as life ebbs and flows with heartbreaking moments. Binding our quilt together are the colors of God’s rainbow and his promises. The quilt’s quilting threads are the love of our families, generations of men and women pulling their life’s threads, with God’s grace, through the quilt top and backing, sewing us together in our ancestry.

God takes our life experiences with all its beautiful and sorrowful moments and creates a masterpiece.

“My life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors. He weaveth steadily.” — Corrie ten Boom