It’s a chilly day here in Wisconsin and there is a box that has been shifting around in the back of my car for about a week now. Boxes arrive at our neighborhood post office for The Sewing Machine Project on a regular basis– a yellow card in my PO Box announcing their arrival–and the postal workers and I are on a first name basis. Tim, my postal buddy, hauls them out to my car for me while Margaret (wo)mans the desk.

And the routine is I take them over to the church where we store our machines, open them and carefully list the contents and note the donor’s name and address. I then come home and write a thank you for each gift we receive.

So this box has been in the back of the car and today it seemed like a good time to drop it off and log it in. It’s chilly…did I mention that?…and I pulled my coat closer as I pulled the box out of the car and hauled it up the church steps.

Our storeroom at the church is a Sunday School classroom and it’s packed to the gills with sewing machines and supplies–truly an abundance of gifts from donors near and far. I made a space on the table and noted the donor’s city before cutting open the box. Harrison City, Pennsylvania. The box felt heavy enough to be a sewing machine but rattled like something else. I carefully cut open the box and there, inside were tidy plastic boxes filled to the brim with fabric and sewing supplies. The note read:” Enclosed are sewing kits as collected and prepared by members of our parish as one of our mission projects here at Penn-Zion’s Lutheran Church. We pray that God continues to bless your ministry, and more importantly, those to whom you minister.”

As I opened each neatly packed box I couldn’t help but get teary. When I realize how many people this organization touches, whether recipients or donors, I am overwhelmed again and again. And I am reminded of the importance of every single good thing we do. Nothing is unimportant. Nothing is wasted. Thank you, thank you to each and every person who touches this organization. You matter.