R.R. 2, Brandon, Wisconsin 53919
This morning as we had our family devotions we were reading the
fourth chapter of Philippians. This I shall try to carry with me
for several days to come – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I
will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is
at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by
the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’
‘Rejoice in the Lord always.’ How hard it is in this day
of unrest and turmoil to rest in anything. One almost feels guilty
when you find yourself being full of joy. For battles are raging in
other parts of the world, and some one’s son or husband is
being killed or imprisoned under soul-destroying circumstances.
There is a small center of rest in the heart of even so
tumultuous a thing as a cyclone. Can we not learn from this to be
at peace with God and ourselves and then rest in His care?
Yesterday I was in too much of a hurry. My mother is
eighty-seven and very happily living in the Christian Home For The
Aged near here. One day a week I bring her to the farm. Yesterday
was Grandma Day, and Grocery Day, and Prayer Group Day and last
evening we had a Spiritual Retreat at our church. Our guests were
ladies from a nearby town.
But I must tell you what I almost missed because I was too busy.
We are still laughing about it, and the family looks at me and
shakes their heads at my stupidity, and that is what it is
STUPIDITY.
We had a Fall Festival in Waupun this year as has been the
custom for several years. They had a poetry contest, among all the
squash, corn, jelly, apple and cherry pie, ceramics, pickles etc.
Thirty poems were entered and I was privileged to get first place.
While I was scurrying around town yesterday morning I dropped into
Mr. Fanshaw’s Hardware Store and was given a package.
In with all the other activity I opened it on the run. It was a
sort of grand goblet in amber glass. ‘What is it?’ I asked
myself. All I could think of was a brandy snifter. ‘Humph,’
said I to my busy self, ‘A Brandy Snifter. That I need Yet in
my house.’ I washed it up and set it on the Hi Fi. It was
pretty with the sun shining on it.
I was rushing from stove to table and back to the stove trying
to get supper ready when Miss Mary came home from Senior High.
‘See what I got,’ I said as I stirred the frying
potatoes. The men were filling silo and I had an extra man. Supper
must be on at 4:45.
As the two of us were catching our breath after the men had
eaten, Mary spoke. ‘You know Mother, that thing looks as if it
should have a cover on it. There seems to be a sort of rim around
the top.’ My mouth dropped open. ‘You don’t
suppose’ I said, ‘You don’t suppose’
Off of my chair I dashed and right to the waste can I went. Here
was the box of disheveled excelsior my fingers found something hard
and my face turned as red as the sun in the western sky. Out of the
tissue wrapping came the most beautiful cover with a graceful
crystal handle which looks for all the world like an upside down
icicle. How it sparkles and how my heart leapt for joy. ‘Oh
Mary, it is beautiful I said and to think I almost missed it
because I was too busy.’ I had thought of burning the trash
before supper but hadn’t gotten around to it.
Mary right there and then started the head shaking and the rest
carried on when they came in and learned about it. Oh well,
sometimes I think like the old fellow who said, ‘You know
sometimes I think everybody but thee and me is queer. And sometimes
I think even thee is queer’s
I know who is queer in this case. Me.
But now was the time to do dishes if I was ever to get
to church on time. What a lovely quiet time we had and I came home
and slept like a baby. Oh! I feel so good this morning. And every
time I look over at the Hi Fi I get a thrill at the beauty there
and a warm feeling around the heart at the thought of the times we
will retell this to our visitors and our family as they come home.
How they will laugh and I don’t mind a bit. How could I ever
have been that stupid? I should get ribbed and
that thoroughly.
Today is much more reasonable and I can look ahead to more days
of the same, I hope. That is if I can get my sink drain unplugged,
and the chicken frying, and peach dessert made, and the dishes
washed etc, etc. But the calm is at the center of the cyclone. Here
comes the plunger and a good hefty woman behind it. Look out sink.
I’m in a fighting’ mood.
