Ooops! The Silver Thread Ran Out
by Oliver Carlos
I have a special skill and hobby that many people don’t know. I’m into sewing. In fact, I make my own basketball jerseys. I have a little portable zigzag sewing machine at home that I use for my jersey projects. I find sewing very stress-relieving. I usually do my jerseys during term breaks or when I feel toxic from office work.
During the pandemic, I was making a jersey that is Toronto Raptors-inspired. I don’t use sublimation or rubberized ink for the letters and numbers. I use cloth patches. The jersey is red with silver trim.
When I was attaching the silver letters on the jersey, I was using silver thread. I was already on the last letter when the silver thread ran out! The letter was just half-attached. I couldn’t find a spare spool of silver thread in my sewing box. I was in trouble, it’s very hard to go out and buy a spool of silver thread. Aside from being in the middle of the pandemic, that color is rare and hard to find. And so my jersey project got stalled for several days.
What made me so disappointed was the fact that I was just half a letter away from getting finished. I was attaching the very last letter on my jersey, it was a letter T that was just 2 inches tall. All I needed was just around six inches of silver thread. I was so close to the finish line, but I didn’t make it. Now I have an unfinished business.
I was even more frustrated when I looked back at my work and I realized that I was too generous with my thread allowance in the other letters. I was cutting the excess thread more than 6 inches from the finished letters. I should have nipped them exactly on the surface. If only I saved up on those, I would have more than the extra 6 inches of thread I needed to complete the jersey.
A few days later, I came across Ecclesiastes 12 in my daily Bible reading. There’s a verse in that chapter that is so related to my jersey problem:
“Remember him — before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well.” (Ecclesiastes 12:6, NIV)
The silver cord, or others call, the silver lining, is an idiom which means physical life. There will come a time when it will end. It’s like the snap of a cord. For some people, that event may be unexpected, just like what happened in my sewing project. It would be tragic if it happens when we still have some unfulfilled goal in my mind, or some unattended or neglected life project.
The other symbolisms in that verse are quite easy to figure out. The golden bowl can mean the physical body, the container of our spirit. Though our spirit will continue on for eternity, our earthly body has an expiration date. Time will come that it will wear and tear, be broken or get dysfunctional.
Meanwhile, the pitcher, the spring, the wheel, and the well can all refer to the heart and the circulatory system. When that system stops pumping blood in our veins, we’re dead. Game over. The Bible says that such time will surely come.
So what shall we do? Look at the first two words of the verse. Remember him. Remember God. Invite his presence in your daily walk. Enjoy every minute of your earthly life with him beside you. Feel his love for you each day.
Don’t be wasteful of your life and your time, unlike how I was wasteful with my silver thread in my sewing project. Be wise by spending your days on activities that are worth it, especially on things that God wants you to do. Spend more time with people dear to you. Affirm them, affirm everybody whom you think needs encouragement. Build other people up. Love them just like how Jesus loves you. And most importantly, invite Jesus as your co-worker and walking companion until your silver cord ran out.
