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All Scripture references are New International Version (NIV), Copyright 1978 by New York International Bible Society

Straight Paths

by Kim D. Headlee
Copyright 1992

My sewing machine featured a trove of attachments, including one that was particularly useful for a novice seamstress like me -- a seam guide. This gadget fastened onto the machine arm to insure fabric fed through at a uniform distance between the cut edge and the needle. And it worked beautifully -- for a while.

One day the machine vibrations proved too much. Despite my best efforts I could not prevent the attachment from working loose. The resulting seams had more waves than a wind-whipped lake. Of course this catastrophe occurred at the worst possible time -- while I was making my wedding dress!

Panic threatened. As I sat in dejected misery clutching the recalcitrant lump of steel and plastic in one fist, satin and lace scattered forlornly about me, a verse flashed to mind:

Straight paths! Thread in fabric looks like a kind of path. Could this promise of God work for seams as well as for paths? There was only one way to find out.

I dropped the seam guide into my notions box, slipped the satin over the needle plate, lowered the presser foot, grabbed the tails of thread, sucked in a breath and started sewing.

The wedding dress turned out exceptionally well, to the astonishment of my sewing-savvy friends. That was over a decade ago. Since then my machine and I have logged countless hours on everything from animal costumes to crib quilts, all with equal success. The seam guide has never left the box.

Trust in the Lord . . . so simple, yet so effective. For all the "paths" of life.

Publication history:

His Garden (reprint), vol. 1, issue 3, Spring 1993

StarLight #20, Summer 1992