Grandma's Gleanings
Words and Thoughts from Grandma
Do you hear it? It’s the cavalry charge, a rousing theme based on Rossini’s William Tell Overture. Both children and adults would gather around the family radio, waiting to hear the clippity-clop of that frantically galloping horse and then that famous cry, Hi Yo, Silver, Away! The Lone Ranger had its maiden broadcast on January …
Our culture is riddled with deception in advertising. From an energy drink that gives you wings, to diet plans that melt 10 pounds in 10 minutes, to facial treatments that promise to erase those aging lines overnight, we have all been bombarded by outlandish advertising claims. It’s easy to see through most of the …
If you wear corrective lenses as I do, you may be familiar with the term myopia. Myopia is an eye disorder where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. Put simply, your eyes have improper focus. Because the eye is incapable of bringing the light into sharp focus, distant objects will …
The admonition to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes means that before judging someone, you must understand his experiences, challenges, weaknesses and thought processes. The complete idiom is: Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. Practice empathy; be sensitive to the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another. I gained appreciation …
Obviously lacking from my repertoire of modest skills is anything that has to do with hair care and styling. My skill set in that regard is minimal at best. Aside from shampooing, conditioning, and fumbling with a curling iron, I’m at an impasse. But every few weeks I strike out in hopeful abandonment and …
Nearly a century had passed since Zerubbabel led the first group of Jewish exiles from Babylon back to their Promised Land, the land of Canaan…home. After fighting off opposition on the part of their enemies and apathy on the part of their fellow countrymen, the temple was finally completed, opening its doors once again …
It is not an amazing thought? Regardless of age, social status, or gender, every person on the planet has an equal number of hours available to them in a week: 168. Even if we average 8 hours of sleep a night, that still leaves us with well over 100 hours at our disposal. Why …
Life is filled with those uncomfortable, unnerving occasions when we are forced to trust another person, even though we may not fully understand the process. My son-in-law is a classic case in point. He is one of those computer nerds, one of those lofty individuals who truly understands all that techno-gibberish. On a recent …
My elementary school experience consisted of a religious private school, well-known for its academic excellence and strict adherence to firm discipline (important plot note). While in the sixth grade, our teacher pulled double duty as the school principal and administrator, which in our young, terribly foolish minds, opened wide a door of opportunity for …
I just love when God picks the least-likely character in human eyes and uses that person as His spokesman. So it is with this blunt, plainspoken, and un-intimidated farmer from Tekoa. He was not a prophet, or even the son of a prophet, but merely a common herdsman, a sycamore-fig-farmer from an insignificant village …
Early in the history of agriculture, farmers would generally divide their land into two halves. One half would be sown with crops, the other half of the property would remain uncultivated, or fallow. This pattern would alternate, giving the land a year to rest. Even Scripture provided for a soil rest, “But the seventh …
Oh my, I was in WAY over my head, and although I considered myself a hard-working, diligent high school student, I was sure that this class would be the one to ultimately destroy me. Chemistry, ugh…too boring, too complicated, too difficult…definitely a when-am-I-ever-going-to-use-this-again class. So here it is, a summary of the vast wealth …
Imagine this scene unfolding before you. Israel is at a spiritual low nationally, their people divided, anarchy and apostasy are ruling the day, and to complicate matters further, Elisha, the faithful man of God and spiritual leader of his people, had “fallen sick” and succumbed to his illness. His voice was silenced at a time …
I have lived long enough, survived enough children and grandchildren, to recognize a good toy when I see one, and this was a GOOD toy. Purchased for our own little boys many years ago, this toy currently resides in a storage box in our basement, still available to entertain children with its simplicity. Domino …
Wow, has anyone ever seen anything like this before? This bald man must have completely lost his mind, loosened any grasp he had on reality. We have suffered drought for years and now we finally have some rain; why in the world would anyone destroy their farming equipment, their livelihood? And thus, the curtain is …