Welcome to the QUILTS edition of the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival.
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My Comforter
It wasn’t until after I was married that I came to think of a quilt as being something that a surprisingly nimble-fingered old lady made out of seemingly random squares of material.
Until that point, the words quilt and duvet were, to me, interchangeable.
What I knew of a quilt was this: it kept me warm and made me feel safe.
There’s nothing quite like putting a hot water bottle in your bed twenty minutes before you’re ready to climb in there yourself and them sliding in to feel the warmth it provides.
It’s like one of those scenes from pictures or movies of a log cabin with a fire blazing in the hearth and everyone sitting around sipping their hot chocolate felling about as cozy as it’s possible to get.
I LOVE it!
Also after I got married, I learned the term ‘comforter’ and although I don’t know exactly what a comforter is when it comes to bedding, I figure it’s something like what I call a quilt.
Comforter is a perfect word for it.
I just love to roll into bed, wrap that wonderfully warm quilt around me, maybe hooking it between my legs, and just lay there, warm, snug, comfortable and feeling protected.
In England we have what they call ‘tog’ ratings. The higher the ‘tog’ rating of a duvet, the warmer it is… and thus the more comfort you get from it.
Oh, it makes me smile just to think of my old quilt and the wonderful feeling of being wrapped up in it late at night in the middle of winter.
But that brings up a question that I just can’t escape from asking…
Why do I need a quilt to comfort me when I have the Holy Spirit who’s there for exactly that purpose?
That may seem a weird connection to try to make, but I’m serious about this. I know I fail way too often to accept the peace, comfort and assurance that God offers freely – and I don’t think I’m alone in that!
Why is it that I’ll run to my room and dive under my ‘comforter’ but refuse to turn to the real comforter, the one who can do SO much more than a man-made pile of material stuffed with fake feathers?
I don’t have the answer. Do you?
Why do I look for man-made solutions to something that God gives the perfect solution to for free?
Why?
You raise good questions, Peter. I think because the Spirit, the Comforter, lives inside other believers too, he uses them also to give us comfort. He works in many ways. It’s all a great and marvelous mystery to me.
Thanks, Lisa.
It is all a great and marvelous mystery!
He provides for our comfort in many different ways: with friends, family, and even a “duvet”.
You’re totally right there, Helen.
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I always felt safe from the fears of the dark night, when I was comforted by the many quilts that I needed to keep me warm. The Holy Spirit is our comforter for certain, and I no longer need many quilts, only enough as all the fear is gone.
Good thoughts Peter. For me I think it’s sometimes harder to turn to the Holy Spirit for comfort because of how other believers treat have treated me or others. I know enough to understand we all may grieve the Spirit with our behavior, but still sometimes we don’t feel that.