Saturday, July 24, 2010

Even a Four Year Old Understands the Theory Behind Prayer Shawls

My sister wrote me this e-mail about my 4 year old nephew, Jack: "One of Jack's favorite teacher's last day is today (her son Jack was at the school and our Jack loved him....she is my favorite as well). So I asked Jack what he wanted to give her and he said a blanket of his so that if she gets lonely or hurt she can use it. "

He chose one of the blankets that I made for him when he was a baby in my sister's womb, and she wrote to make sure I wouldn't be offended if it left her house and went to the teacher's house.

Offended? On the contrary, I was touched beyond words. I wrote back that I thought it was one of the sweetest things I had heard all week, maybe all month, maybe all year.

It was only later, on my way home, that I thought of prayer shawls and my nephew. When I first heard of prayer shawl ministries, I initially didn't understand the point. But now, after many years of seeing that ministry in action, I do.

It's interesting to me that even a 4 year old can understand at least part of the principle behind prayer shawls. He may not understand the prayer part of the equation yet, but I suspect he does. I've noticed that many four year olds have a much finer understanding of theology than most grown ups.

2 comments:

Di said...

I love this. As a quilter and general maker-of-gifts, there's a way that I think each handmade thing is a prayer shawl. I understand that there's an intentionality to most prayer shawls, sometimes even a specific pattern of prayer-- but whenever something is made for another person, I think there are blessings in it.

I love that Jack understands. Very cool.

Kristin Berkey-Abbott said...

Thanks for your thoughts. I love the idea of inherent blessings in homemade objects!