Letters to My Friend - What Heritage Are You Leaving Them?

Dear Friend,

Psalm 16:5-6 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

In honor of Mother's Day I was thinking that I would post something From Mom's Collection since I haven't posted anything there for awhile. As I was poking through my file folder with loose pages and bits I began to appreciate again how much my mom loved poetry. A majority of what I have in her collection is poetry.

Both of my parents taught me to love poetry as I was growing up. My dad quoted poetry to us from the time we were kids - still does sometimes. :-)  He also would read poems in church services occasionally. He loves old hymns so much he once traded The Treasury of David by Spurgeon for an antique Methodist hymnal.

My mom collected poems more than she quoted them or read them out loud to us. She also loved hymns and songs. She, in turn, had inherited her interest in poetry from her mother who always enjoyed a well-written poem with something worthwhile to say. Gramma had a number of poems she could quote from memory.

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Did You Meme That? - Blaming Grandparents for Bad Grandchildren

Today being grandparents' day, this meme seemed like a good topic to address. I hope this encourages someone.

"The test of a parent's Christianity is his children's children! It is not enough that my children walk in the ways of the Lord. The true test is where my grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue to walk in God's ways."  - Nancy Campbell from Above Rubies Ministry

This quote probably sounds really convicting and/or inspiring to some people. But, the truth is that it is a lie. The reason is that it is in direct contradiction to the word of God.

People like to think that if they live just right and do everything just the way their teachers tell them God likes it, their descendants will turn out to be good, godly Christians. (Notice that it's the teachers that they listen to, not God's word.) The "christian" patriarchy movement has served up this lie in various ways by teaching parents and grandparents that they are personally responsible for the future, salvation, and Christianity of their children. This is a false teaching, perhaps we should even say heresy since it can directly affect the doctrine of salvation.

What does God actually say about this specific subject?

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Memories - My Grandmother's Mystery Quilt

This beautiful vintage quilt belonged to my Grandma Van Nattan. I'm sorry to say that we do not know who made it or what its story is - as with many handmade things that were passed down to us from her. It may have been made by my great-grandmother (or some other relative from that era) because these fabrics would have all been from before she died. It is highly unlikely that my grandma herself made it as I never knew her to sew projects of this type. It also could have been given to my grandparents as a gift from one of their supporting churches when they first went to be missionaries in Africa. The timing would have been right for that as well since a lot of scraps of this vintage would have been available at the time. It might have been a wedding gift, but I'm going to say I think some of the fabrics *may* be too recent for that.

I also don't know what the pattern is. I would describe it as a cross between the "Dresden plate" and a "card tricks" block. Maybe a reader can tell us.

Just a word of advice: Be sure your family knows the stories behind heirlooms or other items of particular interest that you will leave behind when your time comes to go. We have a lot of heirlooms, especially from my dad's side of the family, of which we know little other than that they were owned by my grandparents for some reason. If it's important enough to hold on to and pass on, it's important enough to leave the story with it. If you have too much stuff to tell all the stories or write them down for the family, then you may have too many things to leave. Just sayin'... :-)

Sermon In a Stocking

Sermon In A Stocking

The supper is over, the hearth is swept,
And in the wood-fire's glow,
The children cluster to hear a tale
Of the time so long ago.

When Grandmamma's hair was golden brown
And the warm blood came and went
O'er the face that could scarce have been sweeter then
Than now, in its rich content.

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