Crazy quilt

Mrs. Green sighed. It wasn't because she didn't like the first day of school. She did. But oh, there were so many children in her classroom this year! More than she could ever remember. So many children — she wondered how she would be able to help them all.

A big boy came in, and when she said, “Hello,” he said, “Ah-Salaam Aliakim.” Mrs. Green didn't know what that meant, but it sounded like “hello” back, only in a different language. There were students who spoke different languages at home and English at school. Again, Mrs. Green sighed. Would she ever learn about each child?

When Mrs. Green went home that night, she just wanted to have some supper and go to bed. But she couldn't sleep. She knew she needed to take all her sighs to God before she faced another day. The first sentence in a prayer Jesus gave to his students kept repeating itself in her thoughts: “Our Father which art in heaven.”

“Oh Father,” Mrs. Green prayed, “heaven isn't far away. Heaven is here and now, and I live in Your house, the kingdom of heaven.” Then she was quiet, listening for God. Not that He would talk to her like a person. But she was listening for His love. Waiting to feel Him give her a big prayer hug. Soon she began to feel more peaceful. And a word, a single word, stopped all her sighs — “OUR.”

That's a funny word to think about, she said to herself. But there it was: “OUR.” Mrs. Green almost began to laugh out loud.

But then, she thought. The prayer isn't “Oh Father,” as she had said a few minutes earlier. It's “Our Father.” That meant that every child is a part of the family of God. Every one has the same Father and Mother — God.

No more sighs the next day. Mrs. Green came to the students with 30 squares of fabric in her hands.

Each child picked one. Some kids argued about which one they wanted. Some wanted the blue only. Some wanted the ones with patterns on them, with yellow flowers, bright red hearts, even a square with balloons on it. Pretty soon, everyone had a square they liked.

Then Mrs. Green handed out special pens that could write on fabric, and each child wrote his or her name on the square.

Many of them drew a little picture by their name. Then they turned the squares in to Mrs. Green and began their regular schoolwork.

That night, Mrs. Green sat down at her sewing machine and stitched all the squares together. She didn't stop to decide which square looked best next to which. She just stitched away until she had a BIG sheet of squares.

The next day, Mrs. Green set up a corner with the squares on a frame. On top were the squares each child had done. And in the middle was a soft, fuzzy material called batting. The bottom was one piece of fabric that was a little bit bigger than the top and middle. Morning after morning, week after week, the children took turns learning how to put a needle and thread through all three layers, and bit by bit they sewed them together.

At the end of the month, Mrs. Green had a party. She brought in cupcakes, each with a different colored frosting. She brought in juice to drink. The children were so excited.

What was the special occasion?

“Today we are celebrating our quilt,” Mrs. Green said, and she held up the colorful quilt that the children had made. Everyone clapped. The quilt was a jumble of colors and pictures and names. Their names! Their own squares! Somehow each one fit with the others. “This quilt is what I see when I see all of you. When you are together, you form a beautiful quilt.” The children smiled and ate their cupcakes and admired their work.

They could see that one of those squares alone, or even two or three of a kind, would never have been as lovely as the many squares of many colors sewn together.

From that day on, Mrs. Green had all the children learn to say “hello” in the languages of different countries of the world. The big boy who had said “Ah-Salaam Aliakim” to Mrs. Green taught the class that this meant “Go in peace” in Farsi, a language spoken in Iran. And he taught them to say, “Wah Aliakim Ah-salaam” back. It meant, “Peace be with you.”

So many ways to greet each other. And all the time the quilt, the special jumbly-colored quilt, hung proudly on the wall.