Clara Brown tends to blanket people with love. For one group in particular, she does so in the most literal way — she crochets blankets for them.
In fact, there are more than 20 babies who were born into Cropwell Baptist Church (St. Clair Association) in the last two years benefiting from Brown’s blankets of love.
Brown, 82, may not even be acquainted with the parents of the babies. But that doesn’t matter because these blankets are gifts that reflect the blessings the Lord has brought about in her life. Though the colors of the blankets may be similar, “Miss Clara,” as she is known throughout her church, tries to make each one unique.
When she finishes the blankets, she gives them to Patsy Flournoy, the preschool director at Cropwell Church.
The blankets, Flournoy said, are included in baskets distributed to new parents in the church. The baskets are filled with several items needed for babies, as well as a copy of Baby Life, a LifeWay Christian Resources publication, for the parents.
Flournoy said that a blanket from Miss Clara “adds something treasured to the small things we give them.” It is particularly special, she continued, because someone from another generation is reaching out to new moms and growing families.
Flournoy knows Miss Clara’s blankets are touching lives because she sees babies wrapped in them when they come into the church’s nursery. “It’s just a wonderful ministry of love,” she said.
Providing the blankets is, in itself, no small task. Last summer, 13 babies were born into the church, Flournoy said. Nonetheless, Miss Clara kept up. She is able to complete one blanket in a little less than a week.
Miss Clara’s blankets are tangible evidence of the miracle of life she has experienced herself. Twice she has been healed of cancer.
In 1970, Miss Clara was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then, in 1998, she suffered colon cancer. She was only able to tolerate half the treatments.
But the Lord took care of the rest, she said, healing her without the remainder of the treatments.
Because she feels blessed with strength and health, Miss Clara keeps right on going, doing what she can for the Lord and others.
“The Lord gives us so much,” she said. “Why not give a little bit to help somebody else?”
Part of her giving is in ministry to the staff of her church. She is a volunteer in the church office, working 8:15 a.m.–4:15 p.m. four days a week. “I don’t know anything about computers,” she said. “I can’t type. But I can answer the phone and make copies and help out any way I can.”
She is generally the first person with whom people come in contact when they go into the office at Cropwell Baptist Church.
And to think, when she moved to Pell City in 1998 to live with her daughter and son-in-law, she was afraid she wouldn’t find a place to serve.
Miss Clara relocated from Dawson, Ga., where she had been a member of First Baptist Church, Dawson, and also, not surprisingly, active as a volunteer. She was responsible for purchasing groceries for the Wednesday night suppers at the church and for helping in the kitchen.
Working is something on which Miss Clara seems to thrive. She explained that she was employed while her two children were growing up. Some of her jobs included working in the sewing industry, working part time for the library in Dawson, Ga., and serving for 15 years as the director of the city’s senior center.
Now in Pell City, this grandmother of three is involved in Omegas, which is Cropwell’s senior citizens group, a prayer group of 14 women who meet once a month.
Miss Clara said she wants to stay busy and feels quite blessed that she can.
“I know He’s truly blessed me and I’d like to do a little something for somebody else,” she said.
This mild-mannered woman with a pleasant smile is quick to say she doesn’t want praise for what she does. All the glory, she said, goes to God.
And as long as He continues to give her strength, Miss Clara said she plans to get up each morning and go do something. That means she won’t ever retire — not from making her blankets or from volunteering in the church office.
“The Lord’s going to retire me one day,” she said. “I’ll let Him do it.”
As she swiftly crocheted the border on a blanket that was to be given to the next baby born into her church, Miss Clara said, “I thank the Lord so much for being able to do this.”
Share with others: