A Time to Sew
During our recent visit to Granville, Ray and I enjoyed visiting Aunt Bee’s Farmhouse Quilt Shop and Bakery.
Ray enjoyed the bakery most of all. I thought of you when we strolled through the small Tennessee Quilt and Textiles Museum which is a part of Aunt Bee’s. I grew up marveling at what my mother created by hand and on her sewing machine. The museum showcased what other women created in the past and the tools they used to create them.
Mother began teaching me to sew when I was in the fourth grade and also taught me embroider, knit, and crochet. She continued to sew for others until she reached her early eighties. I made sewing a part of our daughters’ homeschooling. They loved to sew and embroider. I made completing a sampler in the historic tradition of America in the 1700s and 1800s one of their graduation requirements. We also took a quilting class together. Both have continued to enjoy crafting with their children. I am very grateful for these practical skills that Mother taught me, and I am grateful I was able to pass them on to our daughters.
I looked in God’s Word to see what it says about sewing, thread, needles, and fabric. The first mention of sewing is very early in the Bible when Adam and Eve sewed in the Garden of Eden.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they knew that they were naked;
and they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves loin coverings.
Genesis 3:7
In Acts we learn about the early Christian woman Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek), who used her skills in sewing to bless other people. She “was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did” (Acts 9:36b). After she got sick and died, the disciples sent two men to Peter, begging him to come in a hurry. God used Peter to raise Dorcas from the dead, but before that happened, widows stood beside Peter:
. . . weeping and showing all the tunics and garments
that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.
Acts 9:29b
Genesis 38 relates a fascinating story about how the midwife who aided Tamar in the birth of her twins used a scarlet thread.
It came about at the time she was giving birth,
that behold, there were twins in her womb.
Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth,
one put out a hand, and the midwife took
and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying,
“This one came out first.”
But it came about as he drew back his hand,
that behold, his brother came out.
Then she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!”
So he was named Perez.
Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand;
and he was named Zerah.
Genesis 38:27-30
Jesus talked about a needle when He said:
“It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Mark 10:25
Also in Acts, we learn about a seller of purple fabrics who became a follower of Jesus:
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira,
a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening;
and the Lord opened her heart
to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
And when she and her household had been baptized,
she urged us, saying,
“If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 16:14-15
Perhaps some of you also enjoy sewing and crafting. Maybe you can fit those in right now, or maybe you wonder if you will ever be able to fit them in again. Remember what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes while you pray for God’s guidance and trust that He has you doing exactly what He wants you to be doing right now.
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven . . .
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together . . .
Ecclesiastes 3:3, 7