A STITCH IN TIME

My grandmother used to make afghans (blankets), slippers, hats and scarves and just about anything a knitting needle or crochet hook could create with yarn. I always felt so special when at every Christmas she would gift all the grandchildren with a new pair of knitted slippers. The pair of slippers we received from grandma was something you could count on each year. The repeat Christmas present each year never got old, in fact it was just the opposite because you never knew what color or type of yarn those slippers were going to be knitted.

Knitting or crocheting is very time consuming and I guess when you contemplate the idea of a store purchase versus a homemade pair of slippers it would be much easier to purchase and the selection of slippers would have been greater. However, would the store bought present be as significant as the homemade one?

A couple of years ago I started knitting again. I would hot have known how to knit had my grandmother not taught me many years ago but, one talent of which I finally put to use. I was the giver this time of such a homemade gift versus the receiver. I had an all new appreciation for what my grandmother gave me years back. I had a proud feeling of the accomplishment of making a scarf and watching the person receive my gift of love. That was the gift. The gift was a gift of love because anyone could buy the gift at their nearest store. I selected my recipients of the scarf wisely because their gift was going to take numerous hours to complete.

Time, it is so precious. The time that grandma took to make the scarf and the time it took for her to teach me the trade. Time was actually the present. Giving ourselves to another human being out of love is gift enough. Thoughtfulness, kindness, and caring all of which equates to LOVE, love in which Jesus gave his disciples and my grandmother gave to me. Jesus gave time. That is all Jesus and his disciples had in those days was time. They didn't have cell phones, Xboxes, computers, televisions, and cars. They walked and talked and he taught them out of the love of his time. If we put all those extra things aside apart from our day we would probably discover that we would have more time too. We would have more time to put God into our life. We would have more time to talk to our children. We could possibly even have more time to just be.

God gave us the gift of time. We can choose things for our spare time or use those things to create spare time.

Time is a gift from God. How do we use that gift of time each day?

Do we allow ourselves to make time for God? Do allow ourselves time for each other? Do we teach each other to knit?

Do we give the gift of TIME?