I have been doing a fair bit of sewing lately. As I have mentioned before, I used to sew… a lot!  I felt that I was pretty accomplished.  Then, I graduated from college, got a job, went back to grad school, married a husband, birthed four children, moved several times, etc, etc, etc.  Sewing took a back seat. I saved all my supplies – for years.  But they never saw the light of day – they were relegated to a shelf in the basement.  I just didn’t have time to devote to sewing.  There were just so many other things I had to be doing – so, year after year passed without ever getting my machine out.

Like anything, if you don’t practice you get rusty.  You just forget the details of how to do things.  Well – let me say it this way… in your mind, you know what the steps are, but, because you have not done it in a while, your hands just can’t make it happen.  Like riding a bike – I know how to do it, but actually balancing and pedaling is another story!

 

There are rules in sewing.

One of them has to do with needles and pins.  Of course you need a needle in your machine in order to accomplish anything. And, pins are a necessity on many levels.  Sometimes, when we get “confident”, we allow ourselves to sew without first pinning.  Because the pins can be a pain in the neck.  Some of us can do this, some of us can’t.

 

Here is how it is supposed to go:

First you pin your pieces together.

Second, you begin to sew the seam.

Third, as you approach the pin holding the pieces together, the RULE is that you slow down or stop and remove the pin.

 

You never sew over the pin.

 

The pin presents a problem for your needle.  If, you do not remove it, the potential exists for your needle to descend on it and break off.  Then, you have to replace your needle. Needles and pins cannot occupy the same space.  Sometimes, if you are careful or lucky, your needle will skip over the pin.  But be careful – the next time, or the time after that could be the time that there is no skipping and needle and pin connect making disaster happen. Well, at least interruption happens. I don’t know, but for me a broken needle is just about the end of it for me!  I hate looking to see if I have a replacement, they are in a small, tight place to replace… I would just like to avoid dealing with this. And I can…. if I remove the pins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, should you get lucky and sew straight OVER the pin a few times, you are easily lured into thinking this will happen every time.  Right now I am simply sewing straight seams.  But I still pin the seams because I learned the hard way that if I don’t, the fabric stretches.  I found myself slowing down and turning the wheel on my machine in order to “watch” to see the needle go over the pin so that I didn’t need to remove it.  Then I found myself simply slowing down and going over the pin. And finally I just blithely sew right on over them, never giving them a removal thought!  I must be living the charmed life!  No broken needles! Pins can’t hurt me – or my needle! I am practically oblivious to them being there!  I am untouchable!!!

 

Now you and I both know that is not true.  

 

I am going to get caught with my pins still in the fabric and a needle jamming down right on top of one.  One of these times…. one of these seams…Then I am going to be irritated!  Like, why would the needle choose this time to connect with the pin and break?  Like, why is this machine picking on me today?  Just this one time, I wanted to cheat and not remove the pins.  Even though I know it is wrong to leave them there, it is so much faster to do it that way!

 

Sound like anything else in your life?

 

It occurred to me the other day as my needle was skipping over my pins (far too many to count) that those pins surely were a great analogy of sin.  I became more and more relaxed with something remaining in my fabric that I knew I needed to remove. Isn’t sin like that? Isn’t our pet sin like that?  We have something in our life that we know is just not right for us, or not the direction that we should be pursuing. But we get to a place where we have allowed it to remain in the fabric of our lives, first hoping that the needle skips over it then becoming so comfortable that it will skip over it that we begin to stop seeing the pin (sin).  Each time I practice my sin(s), I get more and more comfortable with it.  I am able to rationalize it away.  I can even find something good about it!  How about you?

 

Like pins, sin serves a purpose in our lives.  Sin should show us our need for a Savior.  Sin should remind us that we can actually be held together by the stitching of God’s love and forgiveness and not have to be anchored to this world. Sin is a reminder to slow down, look around and pluck out the items that would cause the needle to break off (our relationship with God).  

 

Pins in your life?  

Are you sewing right over them?  Are you worried that the needle will be impacted by the pin? Here is hoping that we can all do a better job of pulling those pins out daily, so we do not become immune to the effects of a broken needle.  So that we are cognisant of how we are interrupting our relationship with God.

 

Slow down. Remove each pin (sin). Attempt to avoid the interruption in your sewing that a broken pin (broken relationship with God) creates. Take the time it takes to do it right the first time (following God has instructions just like sewing).  

 

Will you always get it right and never have to have a redo?  Probably not, but each time you practice, you will get better and better at effectively removing the pin (sin) and maintaining your sewing speed (your relationship with God).
Happy sewing!