It's a Singer, Tension-Free Day!

Today, August 12th, 1951, the Singer Sewing Machine was patented. Issac Singer, a mechanic, cabinet maker and actor, devised a sewing machine that used a shuttle moving in a straight path to sew. His patented design was made of cast iron, with a placed spool of thread on an adjustable arm and used a friction pad to control thread tension. Singer used his abilities to exhibit and sell his machine.

I’m sure this bit of trivia doesn’t alter your day, but it did mine. It reminded me of the phone call from my sis-in-law, Karen, last week, telling me that she bought Mom (who will be 98 in October) a small Singer sewing machine (pictured here). It seems Mom was wanting to do a little sewing – taking up some pajamas that were too long and a top that was too big. Mom had no problem with threading the machine and sewing the stitches. When Mom moved from her home to live with Karen and George, she gave her Singer-in-a-cabinet to her granddaughter. Who knew that she’d want to sew again? I love it so much that Mom is still so clear-minded and just won’t quit.

I have a portable Singer machine that I keep handy for quick sewing projects. When I started making face masks recently, I noticed the “tension” was off – the top stitch was way too loose. I mentioned above that Issac Singer added the friction pad to control thread tension. I simply rethreaded it and the tension was perfect. I started thinking about the friction and tension that we have been dealing with – not just over the coronavirus, but for years now, with politics and disagreements. Our country needs something to control all the friction and tension.

Another word for friction and tension is stress. People are really stressed out and for good reasons if we simply focused on the doom, gloom and despair. But I found a stress reliever in my friction pad that I land on daily. You see, God, our great innovator, knew that we would encounter plenty of reasons to “lose it” – to get our "threads" all tangled up, bunched up and even slow down the progress. What does He do to help us “control the tension”? As Christians, how should we handle stress, because we all know that anything that distracts us from our relationship with God are the things that derail our relationship with Him. Here are some of His built-in ways that I've come to rely on for tension-free living:

✝️ Worship: Focusing on THE ONE Who helps us control our “thread” tension. Worshipping He Who is always worthy of all our praise, brings peace and calm and balances us out.

🙏 Pray: Praying through stress keeps us focusing on the Lord. It re-routes our primary attention from earthly issues to our Heavenly Father's promises.

🙋‍♀️ Ask for help: That’s what friends are for – it may be time to ask for help from our family or friends. Even a simple prayer request over a text message keeps us plugged in to people who care about us.

👥 Seek Community: The Body of Christ is meant to strengthen each other when we’re weak, help us in times of need, support us during difficulties, and celebrates God’s faithfulness with us.

📜 Read & Memorize Scripture: This is my life-saver! God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and pathway and the provider of every answer we need to life's stressors. Meditating on the truth of Scripture surely brings light and life to us.

The more we practice the presence of Jesus through intentional thoughts on Him and His peace, helps us to recalibrate for tension-free living -- remembering all the while that we serve a mighty, all-powerful God Who reigns over all our lives and promises to work all things for the good of those who love Him.

The Book-End of Legacy

I've shared before about how our family makes really big deals about each other's birthdays. After all -- that's the day that God presented us to this world for His purpose and pan. It IS a big deal. But on milestone birthdays, it is over-the-top honoring and celebrating. This year it was Alexia Wallace's (my granddaughter) Sweet 16 birthday year. My daughter, Staci, Alexia and I kicked off the month with adventures at Six Flags Over Texas -- the front-side bookend, and yesterday, with Larry and Staci away in Detroit, I was the bookend that finished off the celebrations. Each day leading up to her "16th on the 16th" was marked by a significant word of exhortation to Alexia. There have been family members, friends and mentors who took one of the days to honor our girl and pour into her strategies and principles for success.

I chose LEGACY as my word. In this first photo, is four generations -- my mom, me, Staci and Alexia -- that is legacy. In the second photo, you can see a beautiful shadow box that holds Payton and Alexia's christening clothes. I made Alexia's christening gown. That reminded me of LEGACY that is such a part of her DNA. Alexia is so creative that if she finds an "on sale" pair of pants, skirt or top that she really likes, and is way larger than she needs, she buys it anyway. She would hand-sew the seams to make those items fit perfectly. I was pleased to give her a sewing machine for this birthday gift.

My grandmother and mother sewed. I learned to sew from my mom and in my Home Economics Class in high school. Today, we can shop around and find clothing at far better prices than taking the time to sew, but sewing machines are sure handy for seams, making costumes and home decor' projects. I stopped sewing until my Alexia came along, and I picked up where I left off. I carefully made that christening gown and it represents the love I had and have for her when I see it displayed in their home. Most importantly, it represents the day that her Mom and Dad presented her to God and her church family, like Jesus was presented to God in the temple by His Mom and Dad.

More than talent, trade or personality, the most important value we can pass on to our children is the LEGACY of loving God with all our hearts. These words expressed my heart to Alexia yesterday. I encourage you to pass on the LEGACY of loving God with all their hearts to your children and grandchildren.

"My precious Alexia -- Today is the finale of your Sweet 16 celebrations, but I guarantee you, you will forever be celebrated – each and every day by those who love and adore you on this earth, and even more so, those that have gone on before us and are cheering us on from the grandstands of heaven. You will always be celebrated because of the legacy from your ancestors -- Godly men and women who prayed for you before you ever made your debut on this earth. You come from a long heritage of devoted followers of Christ and they lived this scripture and I, as your Nana, bequeath these words to you to carry on as you have been taught by your loving Mom and Dad. Now it is yours to take up and make them your own for those that you will birth one day -- both biologically and spiritually. How I thank God that you are already living, breathing and experiencing this legacy!

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."