While getting hurriedly dressed for an early morning appointment after working out, I paused for a few seconds to look at an object that is found in most of my clothing – a common safety pin. I began pinning them in my clothing in a place that can’t be seen a few years ago after I had a memory of my mother and safety pins. I pin one. She would link multiple ones together to form a chain. If a hem became undone or a splinter embedded in the skin, my mother magically produced a safety pin. I pin them as a way of remembering her (as if I could forget) and all that she taught me – things that have become a “safety pin” for life. These safety pins like the real one, come in handy in so many ways.
The safety pen was invented by a man trying to pay off a fifteen-dollar debt. He invented and patented a lot of things including the safety pin which he sold for four hundred dollars to a man that he owed fifteen hundred dollars in 1849. The mechanics of the safety pin lessen the potential for injuries. I still use them today.
The pins in my clothing often remind me of wisdom words that my mother uttered to keep me safe from injury, hurt, harm, or danger…” nothing cures a hard head but a soft behind.” I didn’t know that this wasn’t her original words until well into adulthood. One of the favorite safety pins in our household, “You can say more in a moment than you can hem up in a lifetime” has spared a lot of hurt feelings. In other words, think before speaking because once the words become audible, you cannot get them to the backside of the lips – good or bad – the words cannot be corralled.
The younger me would say what I thought when I thought it. The mature me tries to use the safety pin of wisdom to prevent injury to others and me. Success is not always achieved.
A few months ago, I collected safety pins from family and friends so that I can create a chain like my mother’s chain of real safety pins. Here are a few: “don’t be afraid of silence, walk in love, don’t give anyone stuff you don’t want, no one owes you anything, you learn to do by doing, you are either green and growing or ripe and rotting.”
Proverbs 4:6-7
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Smart and wise are not interchangeable.
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