The Gift of Strangers

I received a gift the other day that is very unique in many ways. Perhaps you've already read about it on my wife's blog last week over at Miscellany. I was given a Gift of Love and oddly enough it came to me from strangers.

My wife Lois was befriended by a woman from California through an email correspondence a while back. They started e-mailing each other and Lois conveyed to the woman that I was on a transplant waiting list. As some things have a way of leading to another, this is what began to happen. The woman asked Lois if she could say a prayer. Lois of course said yes, and told me about it later. The next thing that happened was we were asked if her church could make me a prayer quilt. I thought it was a beautiful gesture of goodwill and I said yes. A few days later I received this from Fed-ex.

I read the brochure that came with the Prayer Quilt I received and this is what it said.

What is a:  Prayer Quilt?

A Prayer Quilt is a lap-sized cover, hand tied with square knots.

As each knot is tied, a prayer is offered for the person to receive the quilt. 

When fully tied, the quilt is given as a gift of love and prayer.

A Prayer Quilt is a statement of our faith in God 

and our belief in His power to comfort, strengthen and heal.

This label was also attached to the quilt. Now being a creature of habit and perhaps being a little OCD, I immediately started counting the knots. The first time I counted the knots I came up with 37 knots. But then the OCD kicked in and I decided to count them again. I came up with 38, and then 39, and then 41. Every time it was different. The last time I counted the knots there were 42. I thought that it was interesting that each time the count kept changing, and so therefore the prayers. This gift is absolutely awesome. But I'm kind of torn about what to do with it. Should I hang it on the wall? Put it someplace safe? Or wrap it around myself when I'm laying on the couch?

(Click on the photo's for a closer look)