by Linda Cox


I paused to look at the quilt draped over the rocking chair. Bright pink and blue embroidered butterfly blocks set in blue and pink gingham material with a hot pink backing. Now that’s what I call a “happy quilt”! Not anything extra special in the quilt world. But doubly sentimental for my husband and me.


I had found the quilt blocks buried in the bottom of Mom’s closet as I readied my parents’ home for the estate auction after their deaths. Mom had embroidered them but apparently never found time to finish the quilt. The blocks were too beautiful to sell or simply store away as a keepsake. They were meant to become a quilt. But I knew I’d have to find someone to do that for me.


I also knew I didn’t have to look very far. Just across the field, in fact. I approached my mother-in-law about finishing the quilt and happily left the blocks in her capable hands. She picked out the material, set the blocks, and put the batting and backing into place. Then she and the Trinity Quilters from her church finished it.


Now, it’s more than just a “happy quilt.” Embroidered by my mother whose arthritic fingers must have struggled with each stitch. And quilted by my almost-90 year old mother-in-law. It’s a masterpiece of love.


Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together.

… a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break.

Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12 (NCV)


Two women created this quilt. Two women of faith whose labors of love were woven together by God’s love. It’s just a simple quilt as quilts go, but the love in those stitches created a family heirloom that my husband and I will treasure forever.


As we pause once again on Mother’s Day to honor mothers and daughters, those who have been like a mother or daughter to us, even our friends, may our relationships be woven together and strengthened by the love of God.



Linda Cox is a regular contributor to DivineDetour. She recently retired after twenty-five years as a district office secretary for the State of Illinois. Her first loves are studying the Bible and reading, but Linda occasionally tries her hand at writing. Her work is published in All My Bad Habits I Learned from Grandpa (Thomas Nelson), The One-Year Life Verse Devotional (Tyndale), Life Lessons from Grandparents (Write Integrity) and the Love Is a Verb devotional (Bethany House). She and her husband live on a farm with their two indoor/outdoor farm mutts.