Hands Beautiful

 "Then Jesus drew the little children to Him, and blessed them, but He did more than that. It has sunk deep into the memories of the evangelists that in blessing them He laid His hand upon them. . . It was an act of the sweetest and most natural tenderness, the gentle and caressing touch of love. When He laid His hand upon the infant's head, He was laying it upon the mother's heart. Do you think these mothers ever would forget it? Some of them would see that hand again. It would be pierced then, streaming with red blood, and they would say, 'Look! that hand was once laid upon my child.' Behold His hands, then, they are hands of power, but the mothers could tell you that they are hands of tenderness."

Excerpt from "Hands Beautiful," Meditations on the Gospels by George Morrison

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all as we celebrate God's gift of His Son. Remember His purpose in coming. Believe in Him.

A Child's Actions

Post by Welcome Home.

"Even a child is known by his doing; whether his work be pure or whether it be right." Proverbs 20:11 

Another share from a Facebook page. Isn't it wonderful? There is little else that can be said for this photo.

Childhood Glimpses: Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges is one of three examples of children having courage to do right things in the face of wrong which I posted at the Facebook page this morning. For anyone who doesn't know, a daily prayer is posted there each morning as the first post of the day. These prayers are based on the daily devotionals from the Bright Gems book. Day 16 is "Having Courage" and we're in the first month of the sequence, which devotional is about Daniel having courage to do the right thing. So today's prayer, based on that, is asking the Lord to give our children and grandchildren the courage to do right.

I can think of no better example than this child, from a very difficult time in our country. This is a great painting by Norman Rockwell of this courageous little girl, just six years old. 

I found this article written by Ruby many years later, where she was looking back and reflecting on all that had happened during her childhood. Not many of our children will be called upon to do what she was, but we hopefully will teach them, as Ruby's mother did, that they have the power of prayer to help them through in the face of hard things when others wrong us. The Lord can surely help them to do right.

Trusting in God,
Nanna Maxine

Bright Gems Online Special

Speakable Gifts has a special going on of the Bright Gems book. It's being offered here, at Pinterest, and at Facebook. The price is $7.50. This is the best price that's been offered and shipping is free! And besides that, it comes with a free download of the BG Notebook. The link is here.

Keep Those Lips From Slips

Photo:Broderbund

If you lips would keep from slips,

Five things observe with care;

Of whom you speak; To whom you speak,

And how and when and where. ~ Anon

We've been talking a bit about the use of the tongue at our Facebook page and this poem fits right in. And isn't he too cute? Broderbund's title for this photo was "Whoops." :)

Nanna Maxine

Fanny Crosby, a Christian Heroine

(Image: Wikepedia)

Oh what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't;
To weep and sigh because I'm blind
I cannot nor I won't.

Fanny Crosby wrote this poem when she was but eight years old, and what a wonderful example and testimony she is to our children. I encourage you, no implore you, to read Fanny's biography to your children and sing some of her many hymns together. She lived a long and fruitful life, despite her handicap. In fact, I often think her life would not have been so fruitful without it. God knows exactly what He's doing and how to bless His saints. And indeed He did bless us through the life of this woman.

I wish the "Glimpses for Kids" by Christian History Institute were still available but as far as I know, you can no longer get the little church bulletins by that name. If I ever find out they're still available anywhere I'll be sure to pass that info along. But the text for the various biographies from those bulletins, written for children to read, are still available online and Fanny's is here. These excerpts from the bulletins do not include the graphics and puzzles but at least they can be printed out and read. 

Please talk to your kids often about the Christian heroes of the past. Believe me, they need to hear these things. Just turn on your news for five minutes and you'll have no doubt as to why.

Nanna Maxine

A Daughter Is...

 "A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future." ~Author Unknown

Photo by Peter Bacler

It's a Wonderful Life

There is so much I could say about this movie, as most of us could, but the word that comes most to my mind is the word "tradition." For our family, this movie has been a tradition, and while some of its themes are indeed adult, for my children that was never a problem. After all, this is a fantasy story, and what child doesn't appreciate that?

Family values come through loud and clear and when George Bailey goes off the "deep end," what brings him back to the reality of just what it is in life that's important? Yes, his wife and children. 

It's one of those films where you can say many of the lines with the actors, you've seen it so often. It enriches our home as we listen to the sounds while we do our baking, or wrap the gifts, or trim the tree. Well, it's a major part of Christmas around here, that is, the traditional part.

As with everything we do these days of holiday preparation, we just need to make sure that Christ does not get lost in the shuffle. 

But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a little excursion into this little small town and its people. 

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

Happy Thanksgiving

The Blessing of God

XVII. Train them, lastly, with continual prayer for a blessing on all you do.

"Without the blessing of the Lord, your best endeavours will do no good. He has the hearts of all men in His hands, and except He touch the hearts of your children by His Spirit, you will weary yourself to no purpose. Water, therefore, the seed you sow on their minds with unceasing prayer. The Lord is far more willing to hear than we to pray; far more ready to give blessings than we to ask them; — but He loves to be entreated for them. And I set this matter of prayer before you, as the top-stone and seal of all you do. I suspect the child of many prayers is seldom cast away. . .

"...Mark how Abraham intercedes for Ishmael...See how Manoah speaks to the angel about Samson...Observe how tenderly Job cared for his children's souls...  Parents, if you love your children, go and do likewise. You cannot name their names before the mercy-seat too often. . ."

[ I hate to leave this wonderful little book and I've put off this last installment, but I do implore you to read the entire writing, but particularly this last section. I would encourage you to find the booklet itself; it's not expensive at all, but I have found a pdf  of the text in its entirety here. You can then print it out and read it all for yourself. Mr. Ryles' concluding words are just so precious. The final quote after this pretty much sums up the heart of the writer, and of mine, with regard to Christ and our children. Heed the words well, and God bless. ~ mr]

"The Lord teach you all how precious Christ is, and what a mighty and complete work He hath done for our salvation. Then, I feel confident you will use every means to bring your children to Jesus, that they may live through Him." ~ J.C. Ryle

 ~ From the Duties of Parents, J. C. Ryle, See the first post in this series. 

What To Put On

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; . . ." (Colossians 3:12)

Another important verse to teach the children. Learning more about humility will never harm them to be sure. We all need to have it impressed often on our hearts.

Being Humble

I have the above image listed in one of my pictures folders as "BG children" because it's the image I chose to put on the cover of Bright Gems for His Crown years ago. I was delighted to see it on this Facebook page today, a lovely page I follow because of the many sweet pictures and art that you see there as well as well as great quotes. The page, "Life's Daily Treasures" chose a perfect verse for this picture, Eccl. 9:10 which expresses the need for us all to do whatever we do with all that we have.

However, today at our HCG Facebook page we have a theme, and it's humility. So I'm going to share that picture from the LDT page in a short bit, with a link to this blog post. Being humble is the theme for the day (every now and then we're going to have a theme to coincide with the morning Bright Gems prayer), as the date is the 20th and the Bright Gems topic for Day 20 is "Being Humble." I would like folks to remember, if they don't have the book, that each particular topic has three separate devotions, one for each of the three months, depending on when the book is started. So, I thought it would be nice to copy here the introductory thoughts for Day 20, written to the children. Remember also, the introductory thoughts are to be read for each of the three devotionals:

"Now we have some thoughts to share about being humble.  God tells us in His Word that we must be humble.  To be humble means that you do not think too highly of yourself. Yes, we know that you are yet a child. You probably feel that we do not need to tell you to be humble. And yes, we know that Jesus once said that people should humble themselves like little children. But that does not mean that children are never proud. What Jesus was saying was that grown-ups should have simple faith, like children often do. But when God teaches in the Bible that people should be humble rather than proud, He is talking about children too. So today, let's think more about this." ~ From Bright Gems for His Crown

Yes, our children do indeed to learn humility like the rest of us. Let's teach them, shall we? And I'm sure that you and I both know that all our teaching is in vain if it doesn't include our example.

Lovingly,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

The Best Training Book

Post by Codeblack Life.

This is another painting/picture I needed to share because the message is so there for us all. I was blessed that as of this writing this picture had been shared 9,750 times and counting. This gives me hope.

The Soul of a Child

The soul of a child is the loveliest flower

That grows in the garden of God.

It climbs from weakness to knowledge and power,

To the sky from the clay and the clod.

To beauty and sweetness it grows under care,

Neglected 'tis ragged and wild,

It's a plant that is tender and wondrously rare,

The sweet wistful soul of a child.

Be tender, O gardener, and give it its share,

Of moisture, of warmth, and of light,

And let it not lack for painstaking care

To protect it from frost and the blight.

A glad day shall come when its bloom shall unfold,

It will seem that an angel has smiled.

Reflecting a beauty and sweetness untold

In the sensitive soul of a child.

~ Author Unknown