a time to sew… (Ecclesiastes 3: 7)

This third chapter of Ecclesiastes is full of couplets of opposites. For example, “a time to be born and a time to die” or “a time to time to weep and a time to laugh.” This would lead us to believe that when we read: “a time to tear and a time to sew” that sewing in the opposite of tearing. Now, if tearing represents radical separating, then sewing must stand for a radical uniting. It does. Here is what happens when we sew.

We Sew to Mend

We sew what should come together, but will not or cannot come together on its own. We sew it to bring it together and hold it together until it can grow together or be replaced. A scratch can heal by itself, but a bullet hole requires stitches. Tear in the knee of your pants won’t cover itself, but it can be sown until you get a new pair.

We Sew to Make

Sewing is a skill and gift which many people wished they had. For, sewing not only mends broken things, but it makes new things. Clothes, cushions, covers, toys, pillows and a thousand other items come into being because they have been sewn. If you know how to sew, you can not only save money, but make money.

We Sew to Merge

There are instances when organizations and organisms, individuals and ideas, corporations and concepts would increase their power, productivity and potential if they were able to come together. The only way this can happen is if some “seamstress” can create the means, method and motivation for the merging to take place and be maintained. For a certain crowd, these words a time to sew means it’s time to merge.