Mama chuckled softly. “Well, after all these years I’ve gotten used to sewing by myself—don’t take it personally, dear,” she quipped quickly.
Leah laughed, grateful for her mother’s sense of humor. She went to the table and lifted Betsy from her basket. Was it her imagination, or did the baby flap her arms and make excited little noises because she was happy to see Leah?
“Often when I’m working alone, I have the chance to sort things through in my mind, and to pray over situations that trouble me,” Mama continued in a pensive tone. “Something tells me it’ll be easier to talk with God and listen for His suggestions if Adeline and Alice aren’t in the sewing room because they have to be instead of because they want to be.”
Chapter 13
When Jude bowed his head the following Sunday to begin the time of silent prayer during the church service at the Hartzler place, his fingertips reveled in the crisp, smooth texture of the new white shirt he was wearing. Denki, Lord, for Lenore’s sewing skills and for the way her presence has brought peacefulness into our home, he prayed. It’s a pleasure—and a relief—to see my girls wearing dresses of a more appropriate size, and to watch Stevie blossom like a springtime flower in the sunshine of his grandmother’s love.
At the end of the prayer, Deacon Saul Hartzler stood up with the large German King James Bible to read the passage of Scripture that Bishop Jeremiah would expound upon during the morning’s second sermon. Saul was a burly man, and his rolling voice filled the huge room, which had been expanded by the removal of some interior walls. “Today’s reading comes from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, beginning with verse thirty-one. Hear the word of the Lord,” he said as he located the verse with his finger. “ ‘When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats,’ ” he read with gusto. “ ‘And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.’ ”
Stevie elbowed Jude, smiling brightly. “We keep Leah’s sheep separate from the goats, huh, Dat?” he whispered.
Jude nodded, his finger across his lips as he hugged his perceptive young son. It was wonderful, how much Stevie had learned since Leah had become his mother, his teacher.
“‘Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’ ” Saul read in a grand voice. “‘For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in: Naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.’ ”
Stevie’s eyes widened. “Naked?” he mouthed in silent surprise.
Jude smiled, recalling how such a word captured a boy’s attention—especially in church—at Stevie’s age. It was such a blessing that his son was paying attention to this important story instead of doodling with paper and pencil, as he and the other young children often did during church.
Deacon Saul’s eyes widened with the drama of the story, as though he were one of the puzzled disciples listening to Jesus’ teaching. “‘Then shall the righteous answer him, saying Lord, when saw we ye hungred and fed thee? Or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee?’” he asked as he gazed out over the crowd.
Everyone sat quietly, in focused expectation, awaiting the answer to one of the Bible’s most important questions even though they’d heard the story many times.
Saul kept them waiting an extra moment before he continued. “ ‘And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ ” Saul closed the big Bible with a satisfied thump. “Thus ends this reading of His holy word. Let all those who have ears hear it and believe.”
When the deacon had taken his seat, Bishop Jeremiah stood and began the longer main sermon of the morning. Sunday clothing rustled as folks shifted on the pew benches. Jude peered between the heads of the older men who sat in front of him, and gazed at Leah, who sat about halfway back on the women’s side, across the huge front room. She, too, wore new clothes today, and the pumpkin-colored cape dress Lenore had made showed off her lovely complexion. When she smiled and lifted little Betsy to her shoulder, Jude’s heart sang at the sweetness of the picture they made. Someday soon, he hoped it would be their new wee one she looked after during church.
“Since we last met to worship Him, our Lord has provided yet another opportunity to care for someone to whom He refers as ‘the least of these,’ ” Jeremiah began in a resonant voice. “You may have heard by now that Jude and Leah Shetler found a baby on their front porch a little while ago. I was pleased to hear that so many of you responded generously, loaning them
