Time and Attention
Mother taught me how to embroider when I was still a young girl. This cup towel is one of my first pieces.
The stitches may be higgledy-piggledy, but it is a cherished heirloom. The contrast between my stitches and the ones below cause me to admire the work of seven-year-old Mary Pixton back in 1844.
Sampler by Mary Ven Pixton
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
From the Collection of Mrs. Lathrop Colgate Harper,
Bequest of Mabel Herbert Harper, 1957
The message Mary Pixton embroidered is a comfort on this cold January day. Truly “Amid the howling wintry sea, we are in port if we have Thee.”
And He got up and rebuked the wind
and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.”
And the wind died down
and it became perfectly calm.
And He said to them, “Why are you afraid?
Do you still have no faith?”
They became very much afraid
and said to one another, “Who then is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Mark 4:39-41
Someone taught Mary Pixton how to embroider, and I am grateful for a mother who taught me how to do that and how to do many creative things that I have enjoyed for decades. Mary and I were blessed to have people who gave us their time and attention. Your children are blessed that way, too.
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:26