The Unfinished Sundresses - A Link to Remembrance

Link - anything serving to connect one part or thing with another; one of the separate pieces of which a chain is composed.


"Of course, I will finish the half-made sundresses," I said to my friend, Lori, as we sat in the screened-in back porch of her home talking on a hot summer Sunday afternoon.

Lori's mother, Beth, died after a fall two weeks prior to our time together. I was unable to attend the funeral in Louisville, but wanted to give Lori an expression of my sympathy.

Baking a batch of muffins filled with blueberries I'd picked earlier in the week, seemed to me a delicious and heartfelt way to extend love to my friend who was so close to her mother.

Unfinished Dresses

During my visit, she mentioned that Beth, a skilled seamstress, had cut out sundresses to make for her two great-granddaughters ages three and five. She died before finishing them. Always eager for a sewing project, I volunteered to pick up where Beth had left off so these little girls could have a final gift from their beloved great-grandmother.

Working on the sundresses brought back memories of all of the dresses, skirts and blouses I sewed for my daughters when they were young. As I gathered fabric for the skirt and matched the facing in the top my thoughts wandered - I wondered what made Beth choose solid pink seersucker for one dress and a gray print for the other? What were her thoughts as she sewed?

Did she realize what a treasure she was giving to two little girls who would always remember their great-grandmother's love as they swirled and danced and played in those dresses?

Be A Link

Sewing the straight seams, then rounding the curves of the inner facing, I recalled the word "link" from my dear friend, Annabel Hartman. Annabel used this word to show how we can be in service to others, by being a link in a chain, a part of something bigger than we would be on our own.

Listening to the rhythmic hum of the machine matching the beat of my heart, I felt honored to be the link between Beth and the sundresses I carefully and lovingly sewed.

Being a link is a role that is not an initiator, but a role in the middle, the one who is important for the completion of a task. For example, holding the door open for someone behind you demonstrates a link between you and the other, helping the person make progress along his or her path. Praying for someone forms a series of links from her/his  and her/his need, through us, to God on her/his behalf.

Jesus Our Link

Jesus was a link between God and those he encountered in the marketplace, villages or by the sea. Jesus came to give "life - life in all its fullness" (John 10:10) as he continuously pointed others to God. Jesus, used metaphors such as "I am the gate for the sheep," (John 10:7), "I am the good shepherd," (John 10:11), and , "I am the bread of life," (John 6:35) to show he was a link between God and those he met, being the  way "to life in all of its fullness," inviting all to come to him.

Although Beth wasn't able to finish her project of love, I was happy to step in, to be a link to what she began, finishing those sundresses - gifts of remembrance to her great-granddaughters.

Questions for Your Reflection

1. Think about the ways you can be a link to others - praying for someone, completing an unfinished project, take a meal to a person in need, sending a card, offering a smile - all of these actions bring fullness of living in Christ to others.

2. Choose one action you can take to form a link and follow through with it this week.

Prayer: God, we are surround by people every day. Guide us to ways we can be links, as we want to spread Your love. Increase our awareness of those we see who may need a glimpse of You through our actions. Being a link is a way to model Your actions, deepening our connection to You.