It is such a little thing. A prayer shawl. The air is chilly today and my heart is cold, so during morning prayer Bill covers my shoulders with a prayer shawl. These kinds of mornings come once in awhile, mornings filled with memories, melancholy, and missingness. All Saints Day and All Souls Day, November 1 and 2, are reminders of the turnings of life from birth to death and to eternal life. Memories of my daddy Reuben, mother Ruby, brother Jim, and son Wade sit with me as I sit wrapped in the warm little prayer shawl.

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Last month in Maine, we stopped by a Shaker Village where women were spinning yarn from angora goats raised in the village. Spinning seems like such a simple thing. Later, we walked by a loom. We were told that the children were expected to weave for 30 minutes every morning before going to school. Our host, grinning, said it was probably to discipline their little minds, as "you know how children are."

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"Take care" she said as she turned and walked away. She left me standing there alone on the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop. Last week when I had a light lunch with a friend in San Antonio it was the same day as this reading in the Liturgy of the Hours: "If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well, but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?'" (James 2:15,16 NAB) "Take care," she said.

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The prayer shawl is a gift from the Windham Hill congregation to Bill, presented to him following his sermon at the church where he was pastor. When he wrapped it around my shoulders there seemed to be a warmth beyond the texture of the yarn. It is knitted with care by the Prayer Shawl Ministry. We are told that the Prayer Shawls are all knitted of soft, dark yarn and are always gifted, never sold. It comes with a blessing. The poem-prayer attached to the fringed edge reads:

May God's grace be upon you with this shawl,

Warming, comforting, enfolding, and embracing.

May this mantel be a safe haven,

A sacred place of security and well-being.

May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope,

Kept in joy, graced with peace and wrapped in love.

Blessed be!

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When Wade was in the first grade he had a yellow tee-shirt that said, "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits." As I sit here thinking about the remnants of little things I am aware that sometimes all the little things weave into something large. Today I think they remain little things - little things I can do to care for someone who is alone, to wrap another in the warmth of a hug, to take 30 minutes to discipline the mind, to appreciate the beautiful graces of ministry. Blessed be!