Just Thinking About School Days

Schools in our county will be starting next week.  For the past couple of weeks the first sight that meets my eyes when I walk into Wal-Mart or any store similar is all the menagerie of school supplies. There are lists of supplies needed for every grade. Just the smell of all the paper goods and the pencils, etc. takes my mind back to my own school days.

I started to school in 1959 as a first grader. (In those days kindergarten was not required and only a few children went.) I entered first grade not knowing much of anything. My teacher, Miss Jackson, printed each child's name on a piece of yellow cardboard marked with two solid lines separated by a dotted line.  Then she taped that cardboard to the top of our desks so that we could learn to write our names.  Amazing now that I did not even know how to write my name at age six! I also learned to count and memorize the alphabet. We read from learning words by sight. No phonics back then that I remember. Thankfully I was a quick learner. Nothing to my merit...it was just the way I was born.

The school had no A/C in the summer but I don't remember being unbearably hot. I guess because none of us were used to A/C even in our homes. The floors were some kind of wood with little tiny ridges in the grain.  The sort of wood that would leave a splinter it you rubbed your hand across it. It was kept oiled and ever so often Mrs. Windham...our janitoress....would clean them with some kind of pink colored granules that she spread over the floor in sections and they swept up.  The ceilings were high and the halls wide. It was quiet and orderly. The principal Mrs. Nabors made SURE of that!  At lunchtime we drank our milk out of little milk bottles that had a cardboard cap on top that we had to remove.  And then for an extra three cents a day one could have a little bottle of chocolate milk for a snack in the afternoon.  I remember sitting mine on my slanted desk for just a minute one day and the whole bottle spilling in my lap! I had on a red and white checked gingham dress with a gathered skirt.  Brrr.  That made me chilly having a wet dress for the rest of the afternoon!

During recess we played outside if the weather was good. On rainy days there were toys and games on shelves on one side of the room. One day while out on the playground I was trying to go across the monkey bars but my grip was not so good and I fell, landing on my back and sort of knocking the breath out of me. A bigger boy...probably in third grade or so...came and very nicely helped me up and took me to the teacher who was the playground monitor that day.

Strange the memories I have of those days.  I loved learning.  I still do.

Maybe that's one reason that this time of year is always exciting to me.  For sixteen years I taught our three children their school here at home.  For sixteen years I reveled in buying new school supplies for them each fall.  The crisp new paper and notebooks.  The yet unsharpened No.2 pencils. The crayons. The construction paper. The workbooks. The textbooks. It was always an exciting time for me.

As we started our homeschool journey, I sometimes...no oftentimes...wondered how long it would last. You see, although I dearly loved the new school supplies and the beginning of the school year, usually around January or February both myself and the kids would be getting weary of the reality of school. Every day. Day in and day out.

But thankfully we were able to stick it out through the good and the bad. The tiring and the invigorating. The exciting and the boring.  Each of our three children graduated from our home school. Each of them received a full academic scholarship to Northeast Mississippi Community College. Each of them are responsible adults holding down good jobs.  Was it because I was a great teacher? No. I don't think so. Was it because they were all just smart and would have done well no matter where they went to school? No. I don't think so entirely.  The Lord did bless them with good minds for sure. But I think that God just blessed our longing to give them a Christian education. I give Him all the glory for any good that came from our home school.

It's been over fourteen years now since our last child graduated from high school.  I've grown accustomed to not having the school supplies in the house new ever fall.  But I hope I never grow accustomed to seeing and recognizing the blessings of God in my life.  Homeschooling was one of the biggest jobs I ever undertook. It was a commitment . At times I felt like it was just too big a job.  Not only one of the biggest but one of the hardest jobs I've ever done.  But no question that it was the most fulfilling job I ever started and finished! I will never regret the time and energy I spent teaching our three children how to read and write and think for themselves!  I consider it a privilege that God let us be able to do that.

"And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry:" 1 Timothy 1:12 

I, too, want to thank Christ Jesus my Lord , who enabled me and counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry of teaching our children...not only how to read and write and think but teaching them about Him.

May God bless you!

Marilyn

A Bride Adorned For Her Husband

As many of you know, we had a wedding in our family last month. Three weeks ago tomorrow to be exact. And what a wonderful wedding it was! Our son David married his beautiful bride Amber. We have loved Amber for a long time but it was surely nice to have her officially become a part of our family!

 It's always a special time at any wedding when the music for the bride's entry starts and everyone rises and turns to see her walk down the aisle. The bride is always beautiful. In Revelation 21:2, John talks about how beautiful the new Jerusalem will be as he compares the holy city as being "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." All brides want to look their best on their wedding day. I know I did. And as I said before, Amber was surely a beautiful bride...and was adorned in an exquisite wedding gown for her husband.

The day before the wedding, David put a new status on his Facebook page. It was so sweet that it just about made me cry. Here's what it said: "A little nervous, mostly excited. Can't wait to see my bride walking down the aisle. Makes me think about the rapture, and how it's going to feel when the Bride is caught up to meet the Groom."

There are so many places in the Bible where Christians...as a group...are called the Bride of Christ. Kyla Rowland wrote a song in the late '70's that is titled "A Wedding Invitation". I'd like to share some of the lyrics with you here:

 You're invited to a wedding, that will be held soon. We are the bride, Christ is the groom. 
With a crown to wear, and a long white robe, We'll walk down the aisle made of pure gold. 
What is your answer? How will you respond? The groom is asking the bride to come. 
And the supper will be in heaven, our new home above 
Here's a wedding invitation, He's sending with love.

 God has proposed. Is He still waiting to hear from you? Revelation 3:20 says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." How will you answer Him? If you are not part of the Bride of Christ right now, it's still not too late to accept His proposal. He may be knocking on your heart's door right now. If so, to say yes and accept Him as your Saviour will be the absolute best thing you've ever done! Then you can live eternally grateful for salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 May God bless you!

 Marilyn

Whited Sepulchers Full of Dead Men's Bones

It's almost midnight.  I was very sleepy and headed to bed about two hours ago.  I was looking forward to getting into bed between the clean sheets that had been taken fresh from the clothesline and put on the bed just hours earlier. But when I was almost ready to get into bed, I saw something!  Under the bed.  I got my trusty little silvery green flashlight  and shined it's light underneath the bed. Ewwww! A little spider!  In a split second all my plans of going to sleep were over and I was headed to get all sorts of equipment to make war with this invader! Some of you may remember my being bitten twice by a spider a little over two years ago. It took just about two months to recover and I've been very wary of those little critters ever since!


When I looked under the bed the little spider was not all I saw.  There was a lot of dust.  Some spider webs. A few tissues.  Several of hubby's shoes. It was very evident that I had not been cleaning under the bed as I should have been.  Bummer!  After half an hour of using the broom, the vacuum, and spraying some spider poison, I was again ready to get in bed.  But now instead of being sleepy and ready to relax into a good night's sleep, I was wide awake from all the recent activity.  My mind was going ninety-to-nothing. And that's when I began to think about the verse in Matthew 23:27 that says: 
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."  I thought about how looking down at my bed it had looked all clean and comfortable with clean sheets and pillow cases fresh from drying on the clothesline. But how underneath the bed was dirty and dusty and needed cleaning up.


Sometimes that's how we live our lives too.  Even Christian lives.  We look good on the outside. We dress right. We talk right. We walk right. We do all the right things that Christians ought to do. But on the inside we may have gotten slack in our spiritual housekeeping and let some things creep in that have dirtied up our spirits. 


Let's don't wait until there's a crisis in our spiritual life before we notice the dirt and go to the Lord and ask Him to clean us up. I don't of course mean that we need to be saved again...that's a once in a life time thing. But we do need to be cleaned up from time to time as Ephesians 5:26 says:"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,"


Well, there. I've written down all those thoughts that kept running through my head so maybe now I can go back to that clean bed and go to sleep! :)


God bless you!


Marilyn

The Precious Book

A while back I started Beth Moore's latest Bible study called "James: Mercy Triumphs". As part of the study she has provided several lined pages at the back of the workbook so that we can hand write the book of James as we study it. One day I was sitting at the kitchen table copying verses from James into my workbook when my husband walked through the kitchen and asked what I was doing. When I explained it to him he made a comment that I have not forgotten. He said, "You know there are people who would give their lives for that!"  

It actually took just a few seconds for that to sink into my brain... for me to realize the full impact of what he was saying. Sometimes I forget that what we as Christians in America often take for granted...reading our Bibles...is forbidden in many countries around the world. And what Benny said is so true! There are many people each day who risk their lives...sometimes lose their lives...by either having or trying to get a copy of God's Word.

One such place that I have recently read about is North Korea. Bibles are strictly forbidden there. The Voice of the Martyrs organization has come up with the idea of writing scriptures on sturdy, bright orange balloons and floating them into North Korea for people to find. I read the story of one family who found a balloon like this.  (taken from VOM Persecution Blog) 

“Grandma, look at what I found!” The young North Korean girl was so excited. She was holding something she had never seen before. The grandmother looked at it with her failing eyes but could not make out the details. So she called the girl’s mother. “Please come tell me what this child has found.”

    The elderly woman’s daughter entered the room and took the item from her mother’s wrinkled hand. Her daughter began to reads the words printed on the well-constructed plastic balloon. “The Lord Jesus loves you. Your brothers and sisters have not forgotten you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” 


    The grandmother exclaimed, “It’s Scripture! They’ve sent us Bible verses on a balloon! Please keep reading.” 


    The plastic balloon held words of encouragement for the three generations of North Koreans. It contained a message from Christians in the West and over six hundred Bible verses taking the reader from the the cross, to the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the last decade, over one hundred thousand of these “Scripture balloons” have been floated into North Korea.

How very precious is this book containing God's Words to mankind! These stories about persecuted nations remind me that I should read my Bible as often as possible and be aware that this is indeed a precious gift and not a guaranteed right or privilege of people everywhere!

In a campmeeting in 1998 I heard a preacher quote a poem about the Bible which I had never heard before. After the service I found him in the crowd and asked him if he would write the poem down for me. He did and I wrote it in the front of my Bible. Here is one verse of the poem which is titled "The Precious Book".

Though the cover is worn 
 

And the pages are torn 
 

And places bear traces of tears, 
 

Yet more precious than gold 
 

Is the Book worn and old, 


That can shatter and scatter my fears.

(Written by: Bernice Peyman)

I would like to leave you with a thought from one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Adrian Rogers:

"These hath God married

and no man shall part, dust on the Bible and drought in the heart. "

In these days we certainly can't afford to have a drought in our heart can we?  I know I don't want that. So when you pick up your Bible today, remember what a precious Book you hold. And the truth of what my husband said about my handwritten copy of the book of James..."There are people who would give their lives to have that!"

God bless you!

Marilyn