During a Chaplains luncheon meeting our leader introduced the devotional time with the reading of “The Crazy Quilt of Life” written by Barbara Battin in Women Psalms. Yes, I shared this story before, but I share it again with you because it is such a beautiful description of what God intends every community of persons to be in our world, i.e., “a blanket of love.”
“In the pattern of God’s purpose we are stitched together in caring and community: scraps of the lingering past, fragments broke from future’s dearest hopes; textures of disappointment and dreams, prints of pain and promise: calico and corduroy, stripes, silks, and satins – all the colors of emotion and experience are sewn into a crazy quilt of life, patched together and transformed into a blanket of love… and our compassion comforts a cold and hurting world.”
Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “I am a pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”
Whether we speak of being a love-writing pencil or part of a blanket of love, we are saying that God created us to be his means of loving the world. And I thank God every day for those persons who do care about others and will go out of their way and take the time to enhance the life of another with love. There simply is no greater reward of feeling worth and satisfaction than that given to those who care about others, respond with loving words, and works.
And if we do not grow weary in loving, we will be patched together with others who care and love; and together we will be transformed into a blanket of love, bringing comfort to the cold and hurting world. The payoff is priceless, meaningful, and ever so satisfying. In fact, such loving behavior has the promise of heavenly reward.
Furthermore, is not loving others to be our life mission? Or have we closed our ears to God’s two greatest commands, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 11:37-39).
And in Luke 10, Jesus defines “neighbor” in the most inclusive terms possible, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan, where love crosses ethnic and religious boundaries.
In fact, Jesus clearly commands and defines our loving others as being equal to the way He loves us. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35).
While here on this earth, Jesus spoke and acted with genuine love for all people in all situations. He lived His life as a servant leader who deeply loved others and acted in their behalf. And the above verses would tell us that He expects and commands His followers to do the same. Jesus’ deepest desire is to live his life and mission in and through us, and so He empowers us to do so by His indwelling and transforming Spirit.
If we are disciple-followers of Christ, we are called to live in a love that looks and acts like his love. Jesus told the disciples, “As I have loved you, so you should love one another” (Jn.13:34). John wrote, “Love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn. 4:7). And in verse sixteen, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
Christians who are rooted in Anabaptist understandings of Scripture, believe that the New Testament scriptures teach that our Christian faith is to be made visible in Jesus-like acts of compassionate love and material generosity. We believe Christian faith is more than just worship and verbal commitment to the Lordship of Jesus on a Sunday morning. It is also the living performance of that worship and commitment in every conversation and activity of life during the entire week.
Myron Augsburger, a prominent Mennonite author and minister, writes, “One of the greater means of fulfilling the mission of Christ is simply to be present in society as people who walk with Jesus.” (The Robe of God, Herald Press, 2004).
Whether we speak of being a “love-writing pencil” or part of a “blanket of love” we are saying that God created us to be his means of loving the world. Let us be it today, tomorrow and every day after that. “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” (Jason Upton).
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 17, 2021
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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