Details

Devotion for the Week...

I love to read. I love a good novel, the type of story that completely sucks me in and makes me lose track of the real world because I'm busy living in the world of the story. There are authors that I love to read, and that I know when I start one of their books I will not want to do anything but read until the book is done. A few years ago I had to take a book (by Kristen Heitzmann I think) into my bedroom and leave it there, out of sight during the day, so I wouldn't be tempted to just sit and read when I should have been taking care of my boys!

A really good book pulls me in because I feel everything the main characters are feeling. Really good books give readers details about physical sensations, so a character who is cold might feel it at the tip of her nose, or her fingers, or maybe she pulls her coat closed to try to block the wind. Then, of course, there are the emotions. I have cried my way through more than one of Karen Kingsbury's books, for example. (Please tell me I'm not the only one! And if you've never read her books, I highly recommend them.)

The Bible, though, tends to leave out those details. My favourite example has to be Matthew 4:2. Speaking about Jesus, Matthew wrote, "After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." In all honesty, I always want to laugh when I read that verse, especially if I'm reading it out loud, because it just seems like such an absurd understatement. Of course He was hungry! A novel written today would probably take several sentences to describe the physical sensations caused by His hunger, and the weakness that came from going so long without food. I want to know if Jesus was sitting in the wilderness thinking about the way His mother cooked his favourite food when He was a child, or if He was eyeing the insects and thinking about eating some of them. Actually, I'd love to know what He was thinking about, even if it had nothing to do with food at all.  

The lack of detail makes it harder for me to really enter into the stories as I read, and sometimes the tendency is to just read the words and not think deeply about the moment. It's almost like reading a weather report or a recipe...I'm taking in and understanding the words, but there's no deeper connection that makes me engage emotionally with what I'm reading. Sometimes, though, there is something about the story that makes me stop and think, something that makes me imagine the details that aren't recorded.

A couple of weeks ago I read about Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane just before He was betrayed by Judas. I read it through in my usual fashion, but then I stopped and stared at one spot on the page. It was the spot between two sentences, and I couldn't stop thinking one thing, "How many minutes passed between these two sentences?"

"Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'" (Matthew 26:39).  I've always read that in pretty much one breath, as if it were all one thought, but this one time I read it, I couldn't get away from the possibility that maybe Jesus struggled a long time before He was able to say "Yet not as I will, but as you will." 

As a man, Jesus did not want to go through the physical and emotional struggle that was about to happen. That's why He prayed that it would be taken from Him. We know that He submitted to the Father's will and plan, but was it hard for Him to submit? Obviously, I don't know, but wondering about it certainly makes the story feel more real, and makes me think about it differently.

What about you? Do you find the Bible's lack of detail makes it hard for you to engage with the story sometimes?

Friendship Galaxy Pattern Release!

I am so happy to be able to release my Friendship Galaxy pattern today! The pattern includes instructions to make a 45" square baby quilt, an 11 1/2" x 29 1/2" skinny mini quilt, a 29 1/2" square mini quilt and a 65 1/2" x 74 1/2" throw size quilt. The pattern also includes colouring pages to help you decide where to place the fabrics in your quilt.

You can read more about the baby quilt I made for little Judah in this finish post. I also made a skinny mini version, though that one is still waiting to be quilted.

I had three fantastic testers volunteer to make their own Friendship Galaxy quilts, and I love all of their versions!

Anja, of Anja Quilts, used the 29 1/2" mini layout, but added a wide border to make it a baby quilt. You can read more about her quilt here.

 Fiona, of Celtic Thistle Stitches, chose to make a Christmas version of the skinny mini layout.

 And Laura, @sliceofpilife on Instagram, made this striking two tone version of the baby quilt size.

It's always so much fun to see what other people make using my patterns! Thank you so much to Anja, Fiona and Laura! I really appreciate you taking the time to test the pattern and give me feedback.

The Friendship Galaxy pattern is now available in my Etsy shop. Because some of the pieces are quite small (1 1/2" squares and HSTs), this pattern is more suited to an intermediate or confident beginner quilter.

If you make a quilt using the Friendship Galaxy pattern, I'd love to see it! Tag me on Instagram (@devotedquilter) or email me a picture or a link to a blog post. You can find a quick link to my email at the top right of my sidebar.

Birthday Memory

It's been a while since I wrote a post for Compassion, but this one was just too good to pass up!

Kids love birthdays, don't they? They love the parties and the presents and the cake. They love the attention and the excitement. Last year Nathan did a countdown for his birthday, and everyone in his class knew how many more days until Nathan would turn 7.

Zachary, Nathan and Aiden on the 2015 birthdays. Boy do Zach and Aiden look different now!

My birthday is in the summer, so we were often on vacation on my birthday. There was one year we were heading home, so we left Ontario, drove through Quebec and into New Brunswick, where we stopped for the night. My Dad joked that it's not every kid who gets to see three provinces on their birthday! I even spent one birthday here in Newfoundland, though I lived in Nova Scotia growing up. We stayed at campsite number 12 in Terra Nova National Park, which I remember because we arrived at the campground the day before my 13th birthday, so I spent one night being 12 at campsite 12.

Compassion International has come up with a way to make the birthdays of some kids extra memorable. Here is some information about Compassion, taken from their website:

"As one of the world’s leading child development organizations, Compassion partners with the local church in 26 countries to end poverty in the lives of children and their families.

Today, more than 1.6 million children are discovering lives full of promise and purpose as they develop in all the different aspects of their lives—their minds, bodies and relationships while discovering God’s love for them in the gospel of Jesus Christ."

If you're interested in sponsoring a child through Compassion, they now have a page that features birthday boys and girls who are waiting for sponsors. Wouldn't it be a great birthday memory for a child to be sponsored on their birthday? Visit this page to see who is celebrating a birthday today. Sponsoring the birthday boy or girl would change their lives forever!