The Story Of The Blanket…
…And the Strand of Hope
Several years ago I was very, very sick, passed out at home, passed out checking in to the hospital, when I woke up I was in ICU where I stayed for 13 days.
the 2nd & 3rd night in ICU was the worst, both nights the hospital chaplain said prayers by my bedside, Anointing of the Sick, on the 3rd night when I lifted my hand off the bed and squeezed it, clear water dripped out.
My hands were not swollen, I would lay them down on the bedsheet and when I lifted my hand a wet outline of it, complete with fingers, remained.
On the morning of the 4th day I awoke to find a blanket laying across my chest. this Blanket:
I was told the blanket was knitted…
…by the women of a local church guild and that the blanket had been blessed and that the hospital chaplain laid it on my chest when I was sleeping and said a prayer for my recovery.
My Recovery began the next day.
Over the years…
…in now what’s almost a decade since the blessed blanket was laid over my chest, and to me what I believe helped brought about my FULL recovery, in the years since people I’ve know, some I don’t know, have become sick, and for them I have cut off a small piece of the blanket and sent it to them, hoping, HOPING it may help them as it seem to do for me.
Other messages about the piece of the blanket came as well: “…is still holding her own with the help of the swatch that you sent & has it on daily! I have to tell you that swatch of blanket that you sent has been on her since it arrived. I am pretty sure that it helps! Many thanks!!” And: “It helped me recover from a stroke…”
I want to be honest about this…
…I am not a religious person, I’m skeptical about all things involving organized religion of any kind and their deities.
I do not believe in miracles.
I do believe in Kindness, I do believe in Hope, I do believe in Love.
But this blanket seems to help people who are sick, that I can’t explain, won’t explain, that is up to you and your beliefs.
But I don’t think that this blanket should be locked up in a closet if in fact in can give hope to people of all backgrounds, all races, all religions.
If in fact there is a god, it is up to you to decide, I believe that helping others, friends, family, strangers…that effort of help to those who need it, of caring about those who need it, with no questions asked, nothing in return expected…that, to me, is spirituality without attachments.
So Here’s The Deal
I will send you a strand from the blanket…
…a small piece of this blessed blanket in the hopes that it gives you, or a loved one, comfort as it has given myself, and others.
I will do so for free because that is how it should be.
Understand I make NO claim that this blanket will heal you or even make you feel better…
…but I do with everything in me HOPE it helps, hope it gives peace, hope it gives the understanding that the universe is a mysterious place, and we know so little, and that spirituality combined with the power of hope, and love, can make a difference and I truly hope that it does for you, this strand of hope, what it did for me.