Grandma's Cutting Board

My dad's a saver.  He saves everything.  Everything!  He's undeniably sentimental.

Not me.  I save next-to-nothing.  I figure if I haven't used it in six months, I must not really need it. So, I either give it another home (via either a yard sale or a donation) or toss it in the trash.  As far as things go, I'm undeniably unsentimental.

During a trip to Ohio to visit my parents last summer, my dad (the saver) re-introduced me to things he's saved over the years.

Before the trip, I couldn't understand the reasoning behind his saving efforts.  During the trip, the reasoning became clear.

Sweet memories!

Of all the things my dad safely stored away for memory's sake, the one that brought back the sweetest memories for me was my grandmother's old cutting board.

Many of my fondest memories growing up include days spent in Grandma's kitchen on the farm (the same farm my dad grew up on) while she seemingly effortlessly prepared home-made breads, pies, cookies, and entire meals from scratch.  Without written recipes.  She knew them all by heart.

Grandma's heart went into her baking.  Most often, she could be found in her farmhouse kitchen cooking up something delicious for her loved ones.  As clear as day, I can see her in my mind's eye with her cutting board and rolling pin, and apple pies cooling in the window.  She even hand-picked the apples right from the apple trees in her own apple orchard.

I brought Grandma's cutting board back home to North Carolina with me.  Though I'm not at all fond of cooking or baking, I use Grandma's cutting board nearly every day.  So every day I'm reminded of my Grandma's love.

I'm saving her cutting board.  Forever.  Guess I'm sentimental after all.

... I brought home her rolling pin, too.

Psalm 145: 4

One generation commends

your works to another.

They tell of your mighty acts.

An Easter Story

I'm not at all a fan of shopping.  It seems I'm never able to dredge up precisely what I'm seeking.  Regrettably, I leave the stores empty-handed.  This week's dismal shopping treks were no exception.

I'd simply wanted to purchase a few Easter storybooks for my grandkids.  The game plan was an 'in-and-out of the Christian bookstore in a jiffy' sort of plan.  I'd thought my strategy would work like a charm, since Easter is just around the corner.

I thought wrong.

Left empty-handed.  Again!

Oh, there were plenty of Easter storybooks alright.  Cute ones.  Some even hinted at the true meaning of Easter.  But, none told the whole story.  Not one.

Disappointed!

I wanted to share the whole story with my grandkids.  I wanted to share it in storybook form.  In Paul Harvey-like manner, I wanted to tell my grandchildren, 'And now you know the rest of the story.'  

Determined not to let my disappointment get the best of me, and just as determined that this Easter my grandkids' hands and minds will grasp the whole Easter story, I'll create my own Easter storybook for them.  After all, I already know the rest of the story.  It never changes.

The rest of the story?  Jesus didn't have to die.  He chose to die.  He defeated Satan and sin when He died and rose again.  This is why Jesus is the only way to God.  The only way to be assured that we'll go to Heaven to live with Jesus forever after our earthly lives are over, is if we ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sins and accept Him as our Savior.

P.S.  I don't like shopping anyways.  So, it's a win-win.

Hope

There's light at the tunnel's end?

HOPE so.

Believing in HOPE

Didn't ask to go through it.  Never dreamed of going through it.

Too dark.  Too long.  Too exhausting.

Not a hint of light.  Not even a glimmer.  Not yet anyways. 

Still ... refusing to lose HOPE.

Still ... believing in HOPE.

'At least there's HOPE.' 
(said someone dear to my heart, whose heart is HOPEFUL.)

No light yet.  But it's there.
Just haven't reached it yet.  It's coming.

I KNOW so!

HOPE is:

• not a notion, but a confidence
• not a wish, but a promise
• not a guess, but a belief
• not an assumption, but an assurance

I am confident of Jesus' promise that if I believe, I am assured of HOPE.

1 Peter 3:15

'... Always be prepared to give an answer

to everyone who asks you

to give the reason for the hope that you have.'

Romans 8:24 & 25

'... But hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what they already have?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have,

we wait for it patiently.'

Micah 7:7

'As for me, I watch in hope for the Lord.

I wait for God my Savior.

My God will hear me.'