JoAnn Gregoli of Sparta, New Jersey, wrote in our magazine, Angels on Earth, about being inspired to pull out her sewing machine to make masks back in mid-March, when Covid-19 was raging in her home state. Enlisting other “sewing angels” across the country, JoAnn made a big difference with the machine that had sat languishing in her closet.
I never learned to sew, despite my grandmother being an expert seamstress. I was happy enough to wear the high school prom dresses she designed for me. (The thick satin material I’d chosen for a winter formal once tested even Mam-maw’s skills.) At least I spent time talking with her in the hours of work she put into each dress.
One of my sisters was smarter, actually learned to sew and inherited Mam-maw’s machine. I kept Mam-maw’s tomato pincushion, the pins with their colorful little enamel heads still sticking out of it. And some boxes of leftover material I hung onto for sentimental reasons.
Sewing circles popped up around my town, doing just what JoAnn did, and I could contribute without sewing. Mam-maw was picky about the material she used, and much of it was still usable. Mam-maw did her part to help from heaven when I passed the material on.
It made me wonder what else I had “languishing in my closet” that I could pull out and use to make a difference? Patience, understanding, two good hands for helping (if not sewing), ears for listening… I try to find a way to pass on at least one blessing per day of the many blessings I’ve been given. It does no good at all to let them languish.
