. My father provided countless wonderful memories by reserving Sunday afternoons just for his family. In good weather we explored backroads, hiked & had picnics. Perhaps my love of the mountains & hiking stems from those days. In bad weather we popped popcorn or made smores over the gas range & sang to the accompaniment of Dad's harmonica. I remember that God's children are His treasure/jewels to this day, because we often sang "When He Cometh" based on Malachi 3:17. "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."In more recent years I have taught a week-end women's retreat on God's children being His gems. Just before Christmas, I did a word study on Strong's #5459 - a Hebrew word transliterated into English as "s'gulah" - so I could include it in the neighborhood Bible Study as we studied Exodus 19:5. "If you listen diligently to My voice & keep My covenant, then you will be to Me a "s'gulah" (treasure) from among all peoples." "S'gulah" is a feminine, passive word from a root word meaning "shut up" or "wealth". It's translated as "jewel, peculiar treasure, special, precious." Eccl. 2:8 uses this word re. the peculiar treasure of kings. Deut. 7:6, 14:2, 26:18&19 speaks of Israel being God's peculiar or special people. I Peter 2:9 uses this same phrasing for believers. The sense of Isaiah 33:5-6 is that even as God is our stability in uncertain & treacherous times, the "fear of the Lord" (Strong's #214 - transliterated "owtsar") is the "treasure house".
Our nation has definitely lost this "fear of the Lord". We, God's children, dare not lose it. It is God's treasure house for His jewels. This is a precious theme & word study. I hope you can get the sense of it from my quick summary here.
. My father sat through a two hour assembly at Montana State University my sophomore year. I had tried to persuade him not to come. It would be agony for him. He had undergone hemorrhoidal surgery only the day before. When I was called from the crowd as the one sophomore woman to receive a special award for grades & other factors, I understood why my father wouldn't stay home. This is only one of a million or so times my father proved his great love for me. Much like my Heavenly Father.
. My father often showed his love through gifts. Yet the gift I remember the most, was the packing material he sent other gifts in on my first Christmas away from home. Understanding my homesickness, he cut off a few of the lower branches of the pine trees in our yard. He packed the more tender & less pokey ends of the limbs in a large box around a couple smaller wrapped gifts. To this day, I can not recall what those other small gifts were. I only remember the wonderful evergreen fragrance that filled my dorm room all through the holidays.
3 comments:
This post has a lot of interesting things in it -- funny, the thing that stands out most to me was your mention of "When He Cometh". That was my Dad's favourite hymn and we sang it so often at our house as kids as well! He used to play it on his harmonica! It's hard to believe he would be 102 this year if he were still alive!
The more we get to know each other, Carol-Ann, the more connections we see.
I have to smile when I see this post because, at least in pictures, you resemble your Dad so much!
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