Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
Perhaps we should all learn to do some things only for
love
I persuaded my wife to let me share with you an article she wrote last week. She wrote it only for the women in her sewing group at our church, but I felt it deserved a larger audience. I hope you agree with me. I hope it stirs you as it did me.
“ONLY FOR LOVE”
A ministry of giving
By Dean Albritton
Almost fifty years ago I was given a new understanding
about giving. Through observing and listening to a friend, I learned that you
can give to others without receiving monetary returns for your labor.
In the winter of 1957 I was waiting for the birth of our
second son in Midway,
The person who planted in my heart the great idea of
giving “only for love” was Cephelia Stewart.
She was a single lady in her seventies who had spent her life serving as
a nurse. After retiring she came to Midway to live with her cousins. She was free to come to my home to spend many
nights so I wouldn’t be alone.
As we sat night after night together, Cephelia brought out
her basket of sewing to work on sewing projects. I watched her busy fingers sewing aprons for
friends and family. When I asked her if
she ever sold them, she said, “I do it only for love.” As an early Christmas present to me she gave
me one of her handmade aprons. I knew
the hours that it had taken to sew this beautiful apron. This gift had a deep meaning for me.
I started asking myself, “What can I do for others only for
love?” Many small ideas came to me, but
nothing I could do continuously as a ministry.
When I moved to
At night
the girls would come down to the lobby and sit with me before going to
bed. Some of the girls brought their
crocheting. They asked if I crocheted
and I told them I had never learned.
They couldn’t stand it that I didn’t know how to crochet even a granny
square. They insisted that I learn. It
was a great night when I made my first granny square.
The
girls come in one night with enough thread for me to make my first afghan. These sessions became times of sharing for me
and the girls. We crocheted together and
I listened to their dreams about the future.
Crocheting brought me so much pleasure that I just had to
teach my seventy-five year old mother how to crochet. During my off time, mother and I would
crochet. Things went well except that
mother couldn’t turn the corners on her afghan.
When mother finally learned to turn the corners, she was on her
way. I am sure that my learning to
crochet was for my mother’s benefit and not mine. Mother spent the last years of her life
making afghans for everyone she knew. Today I crochet
the edging on the baby blankets for our church’s ministry to new mothers, but
that is about all I crochet.
That brings me to how I found the ministry that has bought me
so much joy. When we moved to Demopolis
I became friends with Katie White. She
was a seamstress and, especially, a doll maker.
Katie said when she made a doll, a child could
play really hard with the doll and not hurt it.
I liked that! Katie began
teaching me how to make 36” Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls.
During
this time a story came out in the newspaper about a child who was killed by his
mother’s boyfriend. The boy’s
kindergarten teacher said, “I should have known that something was wrong
because the child had such sad eyes.” I
cried when I read the story. No child
should have “sad eyes.”
This
was it! I had found the ministry that
would bless me and bless the children who received my dolls. I want to make children’s eyes happy! Do I sell the dolls? No! I
do it “Only for Love.” What I receive
from the children who are given one of the dolls is the smiling face they show
me when they take the doll in their arms.
Do I count the hours of sewing?
No!
My Desire
If in this world of darkness
I can light a fire,
If I can cause one child to smile,
That is my desire.
To forget whatever
May be my pain,
To brighten small, sad eyes
Is my fondest aim.
What meaning can this ministry offer others? Let me share an idea that has come to
me. The Bible says that the old should
teach the young. I would love to teach
younger women how to make dolls.
Why? Because there are so many
children with sad eyes who need some extra love. A woman could spend a few hours learning to do
something that would bless her for the rest of your life!
With that in mind, I am inviting my sewing group at our
church to spend the day with me. And I am asking each one of them to invite a younger
woman to come with them – a granddaughter or anyone who comes to mind. The most important thing will be for us to
share a day of passing on the gifts God has blessed us with. Each one of these ladies has special gifts
that they can teach younger women. We
can share the joy we have received from making Prayer Shawls and Baby Blankets
“only for love.”
My life is richer because Cephelia Stewart took the time to
share with me the great secret of doing something for others “only for love.” +
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