Grandma Perry was born in 1906, and grew up on a large farm. Her family worked 300 acres of land, and raised their own chickens for meat and eggs, and made their own butter from the milk cows that they owned. She recalls that when they had hired hands come to work, her mother would bake 9 loaves of bread, every other day. Her very favorite thing was the heel from a just- baked loaf of bread, slathered with freshly churned butter! She went to school in a one room school house, and there she learned how to Tat. During the noon hour, her teacher would be tatting up at her desk, and Grandma would hurry through her lunch, so that she could watch. Soon she was learning how to make the pretty rings and picots, and has been tatting gorgeous edgings, doilies, necklaces, and other decorative things ever since. She also taught herself to Crochet, and has innumerable doilies scattered around her room, as well as many afghans draping her chairs. But her prize possession is a full sized Quilt that she pieced and quilted by hand. She told us that in the 30's, when her children were small, she would put them to bed and then work for hours on this quilt, carefully stitching together hundreds of tiny pieces. She also made a quilt for each of her grandchildren when they got married. She said that her hands were never idle, and her collection of beautiful handiwork is evidence of that for sure.
We ended the night with a few rousing games of Dominoes, then headed home, thankful for this dear old lady and others like her, who do so much to inspire this younger generation to better, and more useful things. God bless you Grandma Perry!
Love,
Faith <><
A full moon shines brightly in the deep night sky. Its peculiar silver light illumines houses and fields, and is scattered by the branches of trees, creating eerie, glimmering shadows on the ground.
What a very interesting part of GOD’s creation our moon is! A sphere of rock, traveling on an unwavering, continuous path around the earth. It is the "lesser light to rule the night" as stated in Gen. 1:16, but where does it get its light from? As I said before, it is a mass of solid rock, not of gas that burns, like the sun, stars, and some of the planets are. It must get its illumination from something else; and it does. The moon reflects the light of the sun, proclaiming something bigger and better, something greater then itself.
To the same extent, we, before the quickening of the Holy Spirit showed us our need of Christ’s saving grace, were, in and of ourselves, nothing! But now, like the moon, we declare Someone much greater then ourselves, by shining Christ’s light to others. We reflect GOD’s love through the way we live, and the things we say, shining brightly in the darkness of the sin around us.
Now – what happens to the moon when the earth comes between it and the sun. Its light decreases doesn’t it. The light of the sun can no longer reach part or all of it. A quarter or crescent moon is not half as spectacular as a full moon.
The same thing happens to our "light" when we allow the world, and its influences, to come between us and Jesus Christ. Our witness begins to diminish and fade.
We cannot have "the best of both worlds." The Bible says in James 4:4, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with GOD? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of GOD." There is a line, and a distinct one at that, between the things of GOD, and the world. Let us strive to stay as far away from that line and the world as we can. Not have one foot on either side and in the process, so blur our "light" that we can no longer effectively proclaim Christ. Let us be full moons, brilliantly reflecting the light of our LORD.
