“Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall…” Ruth 3: 18
A sweet word for waiting hearts…
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Nor deem these days—these waiting days—as ill.
The One Who loves thee best, Who plans thy way,
Hath not forgotten thy great need today.
And if He waits, ‘tis sure He waits […]
The first sweet pea bloom of the year is a cause for celebration, particularly considering the attempts I’ve made to grow them since I was seventeen! Last year was my initial success with the elusive little things. You simply must sow the seeds where they are to grow, (after an overnight soak in water) and […]
I have never had to say goodbye to a house, never had to watch a house I loved pass into the hands of others. And that is why the sale of Hamrick Hall has been a peculiarly painful idea for me. Having my sister’s wedding in my grandparent’s house this winter has culminated a lifetime […]
My friend Lauren has a new motto painted over her kitchen sink: Otium Sanctum. It was the first thing that I noticed when we were visiting in their home a couple of weeks ago. I asked about it, and her husband explained that it was an ancient Latin phrase that the church fathers used to […]
Lucilla Eliot, of Elizabeth Goudge’s ‘Eliot trilogy’ (Bird in the Tree, Pilgrim’s Inn and Heart of the Family) is one of my heroines. Expect to hear much of her—and the wisdom that Ms. Goudge imparts through her voice—in this journal. Elizabeth Goudge’s writings have played a very formative role in my thoughts on homemaking and […]
I’ve spent a delicious rainy afternoon perusing the stack of books I was blessed to acquire from my grandmother’s estate. I’ve held them each, gently turned fragile pages, read the inscriptions of familiar names. Out of one falls a Christmas card to my great-great-grandmother; another has an examination for a W.M.U. Mission Study […]
A friend gave me this years ago:
"Arise early.
Dress thyself quickly.
Go thy ways gaily.
Do thy work wisely.
Answer men demurely.
Treat thy kin courteously.
Rule thy tongue carefully.
Con thy book soberly.
Sing thy bit joyously.
Dance thy round jocundly.
Go thy supper warily
And to thy bed merrily.
Kneel then devoutly.
And sleep surely."
I wasn’t sure that I wanted to read a novel about birds.
“You mean, the birds are the characters?” I gave my mother a skeptical look. To be sure, our new friendship with Gene-Stratton Porter should have left me little room to doubt. On the heels of ‘Freckles’ and ‘Laddie’, it […]
“I’ll never forget the summer I read Freckles”, Mrs. Downs said one afternoon when I had escaped from the heat outside into the cool dimness of her basement shop. “I was fifteen and I sat out on the front porch swing and read it cover to cover.” Her face warmed with a reminiscent light. […]
On the Worth of Old Books “Each age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.” C. S. […]