Readers, you are in for a treat! My online friend, Pearl Allard, has given me permission to repost one of her blog pieces on my site. You will be blessed, as I always am, by her words and by her beautiful writing style. 

I stumbled upon Debbie Scales’s blog almost exactly a year ago, and first read The Humble Geranium (I love that she named her blog after this concept!). After I read some of Debbie’s posts, I felt mentored by someone who’d been there, done that, and had recovered enough emotional sanity to make it humorous. I thought this is a woman I want to learn from. Over the past year – through emails, comments, and the writer’s guild that initially connected us – Debbie’s been a huge source of encouragement to me. I am honored Debbie asked me to share one of my blog posts from Look Up Sometimes.

Calling All Quitters! Today’s Your Day!
by Pearl Allard

Calling All Quitters! Today’s Your Day! This was the subject heading of an email I received. I did a double take before realizing I misread it. (Must’ve needed another cup of coffee that morning.) It actually said “calling all QUILTERS” and was advertising a sale at a well-known fabric store. That one letter L makes a big difference!

I think we are all like that letter L. We each make a big difference, even if we don’t immediately see or feel it. You might be the difference that prevents somebody from quitting their calling. Your voice, your perspective, your words, your quiet deeds, your unseen prayers might be exactly what someone else needs today.

So what if our work seems the same as someone else’s? We each do it differently. And we each reach a different block of community, even if there’s some overlap. How much more beautiful is an entire quilt than one lonesome scrap?

I think a big lie we swallow is that somehow one person’s success means our own success becomes that much harder to attain. As if we’re all standing in line at the checkout counter of success and each time someone is given more likes, more attention, more money, more fill-in-the-blank than I currently have, we just fall further and further behind in line. Competition.

I’ve thought in the past that we are standing in a line. Side-by-side, however, fighting the same battle for the same commander-in-chief. But perhaps it’s more complicated than that. Formations of soldiers obviously consist of more than one line.

A quilt actually makes a good analogy. Comfort, economy, heirloom. What comes to mind when you think of quilts?

If we are each a piece of a quilt, we do more good and are more beautiful as a whole. We enhance each other. We bring glory to the quilt-maker, the One who sews our lives together. History is stitched to new. Over the whole of it, a design is embroidered, further emphasizing unity. Together we purpose to bring warmth and beauty to those who benefit from that unity.

When we feel frayed, we don’t have to be afraid. We won’t be undone when the One in control is stitching together all loose ends for one end.

The next time you feel like holding your index finger and thumb to your forehead (you know, the “loser” sign?), just remember this: the letter L is the difference between quit and quilt. You are that difference.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Pearl Allard is happily-mostly-aftered to her hero of thirteen years and is stay-at-home mama to two crazy-wonderful kids in Southwest Michigan. Tired of tip-toeing around the edges of life defined by fear, she invites you along on her journey to experience freedom in Christ. She blogs encouragement to glimpse and embrace God’s grace at Look Up Sometimes.