What's your 700?

I was so tired, I could hardly wait to get to bed.  But I was minutes away from reaching a long-sought goal. So I pushed the needle with its long tail of yarn once again into the quilt, tied and cut it, pushed it again, and again. Finally, I  finished my 700^th baby quilt to donate to a local hospital for a baby from a family in need.  For the last five and a half years I have sewn these blankets  from materials found at thrift stores, yard sales, and store clearance bins. I originally thought I’d stop at 10, 50, then 100, then 500...while my family chuckled, “You’re not done yet.”  After 700, I’m ready for the break.

I started this project after learning that our hospital served some families so impoverished that they  had little to nothing to take their babies home in.  For some, “home” was a car, shelter, or relative or friend’s crowded house. In previous years, I’d randomly donated home-sewn baby blankets to our local pro-life clinic.  But this was a bigger need.  Plus, I got an elbow in the ribs from Galatians 2:10, about remembering the poor. Paul (author of that book) said he was eager to do that as part of his ministry.

'IN THE WAY'-OBEDIENCE
Like the patches in my quilts, God has a way of putting things together. I thought recently of the account in Genesis 24 about Abraham’s servant traveling to the ancestral land to find an appropriate bride for Abraham’s son Isaac. They certainly did “courtship” differently back then! But I have long appreciated the humble servant’s reaction when he found the young woman who seemed to be “just right.”  He didn’t pump his fist or call a town hall. He said, “I being in the way the Lord led me” (Genesis 24:27). In other words, as he committed himself to "the way" of a grueling faith trip and sought to keep a sensitive heart,  God brought it about.

As for the blankets, I constantly experienced God “leading” me. Yes, I opened my wallet to buy discounted “essentials.” At one estate sale I came across a huge roll of batting—almost as big as me.  As I wobbled down the street to my car with it, I wondered if I would ever use it up.  I did, within a few months.   I was also blessed by many who gave me fabric or batting, including a woman dying of cancer whose fabric-scraps gifting resulted in fifteen blankets.  One older lady and her daughter brought by a big box of serger cone thread in various colors. I rigged up a way to use it on my sewing machine.

A NUMBER FOR 'IT'S TIME'
Why 700? As other things needing time and emotional energy have come into my life, I sensed the need to fix a “goal.”  The number “7” is considered a perfect number in the Bible. God created in six days and rested on the seventh.  We still have a seven-day calendar.  He had Noah bring seven pairs of “clean” animals into the ark (just duos of all the rest).  Joshua marched about Jericho seven times before the walls fell.  Daniel and Revelation are full of prophetic sevens.

Our world bleeds with heart-breaking hurts, particularly for women, children and infants. I honor those who are there to help the helpless in my community and across the nation, and across the oceans at the front lines of disaster and war.  For a season, I felt God leading me to help my community’s poor,  even through such a simple thing as a baby blanket.

Care to share what God has called you to do?  I’d welcome feedback in the comments section.