The Wisdom Weaver.....

I'd like to share my little offering which is a tribute to my beloved grandmother, the wisdom weaver, who has the ability to weave godly wisdom into her everyday life. I give you my offering, be blessed:

The Wisdom Weaver

As a young girl she was raised in church. It was there that she fell in love with Jesus and trusted Him with her heart. She dreamed as most little girl’s do of some day marrying and having children. Two things would stand her in good stead when life got hard and her future dream of being married and having children came true, her love and trust in Jesus and the lessons she had learned well from her own beloved mother.

Lucille was a farm girl, raised in the rural South by a gentle loving mother and stern father. After her mother passed away she and her sisters helped to raise each other as best they could. Life was hard without their fun loving mother who made farm work and housework seem like play and taught them to work as unto the Lord with joy and singing.

Lucille grew up, fell in love, married, and together they set up a homestead on a small parcel of land. Life took a little twist after she married and had four children when her husband suddenly passed away. She found herself a widow living on a piece of land miles from town, without any income or any means of one, unable to drive, with four young children to provide for.

After burying her husband she sat out on her tiny porch one night with her head in her hands and wept over the fact that she felt so alone. This is where the lessons she learned from her mother and her love for and trust in Jesus stood her in good stead. She poured out her sorrows to the only one who could comfort her. She told Him all her needs, even though He already knew, and she leaned heavily upon Him in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. She taught her children to lean on Jesus and to trust Him for all their needs.

Lucille worked willingly and eagerly with her hands. She taught her children to be willing workers also but always applied her mother’s joy to the task at hand by making it seem like play or by singing as they worked. Many of the hymns she had learned as a young girl passed over her lips, as she worked she taught her children praise through song.

Much like the Proverbs 31 Woman, she got up while it was still dark in order to provide food for her family. She lit her lantern, stoking the coals in the pot belly stove, heating water for her morning coffee where she sat at the feet of Jesus every morning pouring over the pages of her well worn Bible. She read the promises and clung to them. She repeated the praises and sung them. She bowed her head in prayer and gave Him her every daily care.

She considered her fields and planted them properly with an upper field being plowed up and planted with potatoes, a lower one for the family vegetable garden, and yet another for sowing seed that would grow sweet smelling hay to feed the livestock. She saw that her trading was profitable taking potatoes from that large field and trading neighbors for things she might need or selling the extra harvest for money for the things they could not grow themselves on the farm.

She set about her work vigorously each day no matter how tired, discouraged, or scared she was. She said that each and every day Jesus strengthened her for that day’s task, whether it was chopping and hauling wood, hoeing the garden, or just keeping up with four young healthy active children.

Her lamp never went out at night as she was up late mending or seeing to the household chores. Her arms were always open to the poor and needy whether it was a neighbor or stranger. She always said that they didn’t have much but it was always enough to share. She taught her children the character qualities of generosity and kindness.

She had no fear for her household in winter weather; there were plenty of trees in the wood lot for winter fuel. Her beds were covered in thick quilts she had made from worn out clothing. Her floors were warm from the rag rugs she braided with her nimble fingers. Her children were clothed with garments she had sewn.

There came a time when she felt she could leave the farm and work in town but she had no transportation, no skills, and no prospects, so she gathered her children round her and they prayed. The next day a man from the town school came knocking on her door and said that they had a job offer for her as a cook in the cafeteria if she’d like it and a neighbor who worked in town offered to give her a ride as he passed her house everyday anyway. The lessons she taught her children were the importance of prayer and that the Lord will provide.

To this very day she is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days come as she says they cannot be any harder than the ones that have passed. She speaks wisdom, a frequent saying being, “I don’t know what we would have done without the Lord.” Faithful instruction was always on her tongue as she raised her children and she continues to pass it along to her grand children, and great grandchildren. She watched well over the affairs of her household and to this day does not eat of the bread of idleness. Even though age has slowed her body down it has not hampered or hindered her from thumbing through the pages of her beloved Bible and praying for her family.

Many women do noble things but to me, my beloved grandmother surpasses them all. I only hope to be able to emulate her noble character and ability to weave godly wisdom into the fabric of everyday life.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy