A Faith Filled Hodgepodge…

 

Happy Wednesday, y’all!  It’s week five of staying home, for us, how about you?  Today, I’m joining Joyce for another edition of The Hodgepodge.  If you’d like to join in, too, just click Joyce’s button at the top of this post.

1. How will you celebrate Easter this year?

It will be a different kind of Easter for us.  For the first time, ever, our family will not gather together.  Our state (Georgia) is experiencing a big surge in cases of covid 19, this week!  We’re still under a “shelter in place” order, and still practicing social distancing.  It wouldn’t be wise to put twelve people together to share a meal at this time.  So, Ed and I will watch Easter services on Facebook, then eat our Easter lunch, alone, for the first time in our forty-seven years of marriage.

2. Is it easier for you to receive grace offered or extend grace to another? Explain.

I’m ashamed to admit that it’s easier for me to receive grace offered than it is to extend grace to another, most of the time.  I’ve been working on my sinful nature for the past few years, and, with God’s help, I’m making progress in this area.  In the words of the old song, He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be.

3. Do you say grace before meals? If so do you have a standard dinnertime grace or is it more ‘off the cuff’ ? Do you say grace when dining out? Do you have a favorite grace? Any special memory associated with ‘saying grace’?

Yes, we ask a blessing before every meal.  For years, we said the standard “God is Great” blessing, but in the past few years Ed began actually praying before each meal.  Yes, now we pray when dining out, too, but for many years we didn’t.  Praise the Lord for spiritual maturity!

When I was a little girl I learned a sweet blessing that I still remember.  It goes like this:  Please keep us close together/ And help us to be good/ And always love each other/ the way a family should/ And when our life is over/ Please let us meet again/ So we can be a family/ up in heaven, Lord, Amen!  

4. What are some challenges you think the next generation will face? (Generation Alpha-born between 2011 and 2025)

Judging from the direction our country seems to be heading,  they may face the challenge of living under socialism.  I pray not!  It looks like they will also face the challenge of living in a country that’s hopelessly in debt.  The age of social media has made it harder for people to talk face to face, so there’s that challenge.  Then there’s this epidemic of “entitlement” that has permeated society…

5. Share a favorite quote or lyric featuring the word faith.

I love this hymn, which sort of features the word faith, and it’s a good one to remember in times like these:

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me

Random:

Easter has always been a two-day celebration at our house.  On the day before Easter, the grandchildren and their families would get together, late in the afternoon, to dye eggs.  After the eggs were colored, we’d all share a meal. The next day, after church, we’d meet up at our house, again, for the noon meal.  Then, there would be a huge egg hunt, consisting of over 300 plastic eggs, with slips of paper hidden inside.  The slips of paper would soon be traded for lots of candy and prizes.

As stated earlier, it will be a different kind of Easter, this year, so I’d like to share a few picture memories from the past.  There’s lots of good Easter memories in these pictures, and memories will just have to do, for now.