Quote from Forum Archives on April 12, 2006, 4:09 pm

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

 

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Hope Chest Home School News

with Virginia Knowles

April 12, 2006

#9-3: A Future for Our Daughters

Part 2: Treasured Books from My Grandma’s House

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Hello Hope Chest friends!

 

As promised, here is part 2 of the "A Future for Our Daughters" issue series.  Don't worry -- it's a short one!  Actually, as it touches on the subjects of a woman's role in the family, it's as much for your life now as it is for your daughters' lives in the future.  I think you will especially enjoy the excerpt from the 1898 book What is Worth While by Dr. Anna Robertson Brown.

 

I would still love to hear from you all about the topic "A Future for Our Daugters."  Send along your comments as soon as possible.  Also, as I mentioned, I had an e-mail crash last week and lost everything in my homenews mailbox.  If you have sent me anything in the past month, please resend it!

 

In His Sovereign Grace

 

Virginia Knowles

www.TheHopeChest.net

 

In this issue, you will find:

• Treasured Books from My Grandma's House
• What is Worth While? by Anna Robertson Brown
• Praying for One Another (including an excerpt from The Real Life Home School Mom)

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Treasured Books from My Grandma’s House

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My maternal grandparents, Henry and Dorothy Hess, are in the 90s now.  They met as teenagers living on neighboring farms in Pennsylvania, married in 1934, and have lived long and productive lives!   Now they are passing on what they can to their children and grandchildren.  My mother visited them for two weeks while she was here in Florida in February, and brought back a box full of lovely old books for me! 

 

Among these books, I was so glad to see my old "friend" -- Lives that Inspire by Beatrice Plumb -- which I had borrowed many years ago and rather reluctantly returned.  That volume introduced me to my favorite American poet, Edgar Guest.  You've seen his poems in The Book of Virtues, haven't you?  If not, check out these links: http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/guest01.html and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Guest) 

 

Two other gems, new to me, though far older than me (and even my mother), were the Bess Streeter Aldrich Treasury and a very small aged volume called What Is Worth While? by Anna Robertson Brown.  

 

In the Bess Streeter Aldrich Treasury, I found a true classic, A Lantern in Her Hand, which traces the life of old Abbie Deal, pioneer settler near Lincoln, Nebraska, through her 80 plus years of life.   I wish I could convey to you how well-written this novel is as literature (filled with symbolism, profundity and a finely developed plot), as history (progress through the decades from pioneer times through the 1920s), as inspiration for mothers in 2006 (who are trying to invest in their children through much sacrifice, and hoping that they somehow "get it" -- the "it" being what is really important in life, not the "it" on the eBay commercials!  Unfortunately, I don’t they did get it.)  Fortunately for you, I've discovered that this book is still in print! Do "get it" -- please! You can find it at www.ChristianBook.com for about $6.  If you use promotion code 219614 before April 15, you can even get free shipping.  My public library system (Seminole County, Florida) carries this book at some branches, too.  If yours doesn't, try asking for it on Inter-Library Loan.  A Lantern in Her Hand is such a worthy fiction counterpart of the next book I want to mention.  I’ll give it a section by itself, though!

 

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What Is Worth While?

By Anna Robertson Brown

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The other esteemed title from my Grandma's shelf is What is Worth While? by Anna Robertson Brown, PhD.   Written as a speech for college alumni in 1898 by a rare Christian woman with a doctorate degree, it is a jewel!  This profound little book, reprinted dozens of times over several decades, spread far and wide the message of making your life count for eternity.   My grandmother received it as a Titus 2 gift from her mother-in-law, Mary Graves Hess, for whom my mother and my oldest daughter are both named.  I love the fact that this has been passed down from generations of mothers!  It is so fitting, as you will see.  Here are a few excerpts:

 

The question of life is not, How much time have we? -- for in each day each of us has exactly the same amount: we have "all there is."  The question is, What shall we do with it?  Shall we let this priceless gift slip away from us in haphazard deeds, or shall we adopt some plan of saving and of systematic doing in our lives?  What shall this plan be?  How shall we determine what things are worth giving time to?  Let us think about this question.  In our thoughts, let us not forget one point, -- time spent in being interrupted is not time lost.  A strong thinker once said, "No one knocks at my door who is not sent by God."  We are spending time well when we are paying it out to God, to buy the things he means our lives to own, whether he is putting before us a duty to be done, a friend to be won, a small service to be rendered, a child to be consoled, or a house to be set in order.  There is time enough given us to do all that God means us to do each day and to do it gloriously!  How do we know but that the interruption we snarl at is the most blessed thing that has come to us in long days?  But in all our lives, though time is given us to eat, drink, sleep, work and play, there is no moment given us to throw away.

 

~*~

 

Let us not try to escape our work, nor to shirk it.  Above all, let us not fail to see it.  As long as we live we have a work to do.  We shall never be too old for it, nor too feeble.  Illness, weakness, fatigue, sorrow, -- none of these things can excuse us from this work of ours.  That we are alive to-day is proof positive that God has something for us to do to-day.  Let us ask ourselves as we arise each morning, What is my work today?  We do not know where the influence of to-day will end.  Our lives may outgrow all our present thoughts, and outdazzle all our dreams.  Every day is a test-day; every hour is an examination-hour.  God puts each fresh morning, each new chance of life, into our hands as a gift, to see what we will do with it.

 

~*~

 

Let us lay hold of common duties and relations.  Let us lay hold of the tenderness that belongs to them.  Shall we miss all the divine sweetness of life in order to have a career?  Shall we shed home, family, relatives, and domestic duties, in order to learn Sanskrit, ethnology, philology?  Not all college-bred women think how that sounds when, led by no pressure of bread-winning which impels them to seek higher advantages, but simply by an absorbing ambition, they leave their father or mother, or both, in a lonely home.  Let us consider life at all points before we rush into a new phase of it, from which, once in, we may not soon withdraw.... We must love our mothers more than Greek dialects.  If the instinct of daughter, sister, wife, or mother dies out of a college-bred wman, even in the course of a most brilliant career otherwise, the world will forget to love her; it will scorn her, and justly.  If she does not make her surroundings home-like wherever she is, whether she be teacher, artist, musician, doctor, writer, daughter at home, or a mother in her household, and if she herself is not cheery and loving, dainty in dress, gentle in manner, and beautiful in soul as every true woman ought to be, the world will feel that the one thing needful is lacking, -- vivid, tender womanliness, for which no knowledge of aysmptotes or linguistics can ever compensate.  It is better for a woman to fill a simple human part lovingly, better for her to be sympathetic in trouble and to whisper a comforting message into but one grieving ear, than that she should make a path to Egypt and lecture to thousands on ancient Thebes.

 

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Praying for One Another

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A few days ago, I asked Hope Chest readers to share their prayer requests with me so I could lift you up before God's throne.  I was touched by the many replies I received, and want to let you know that I am still praying for you.  You are all welcome to send requests to my private e-mail address at [email protected].   I also want to encourage you to pray for people that you know, especially your own husband and children.  I'm sure you can think of many other people, including relatives, friends, neighbors, pastors, missionaries, ladies in your home school support group, etc.  If you don't know what to pray for, ask them!  This may even open up a spiritual conversation that you thought might never happen.  Just remember to keep things confidential, as prayer requests are not an excuse for gossip!

 

I thought I might include a short excerpt from my book The Real Life Home School Mom which touches on the subject of praying for one another.

 

Coming Before the Throne of Grace in Prayer

 

            Do you find yourself droning, “God bless Grandma and the missionaries in Africa, help Susie to get better from the flu, and make Mike mind his manners, Amen.”  How can we make our prayers more meaningful?   This is not a purchase order to a computer, but a conversation with a Divine Person.  He has something to say too, if you will listen quietly and resist the temptation to do all the talking.  Prayers do not have to be long.  As the Bible says, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”  (Matthew 6:7-8).  At times, the most appropriate prayer is simply, “Lord, have mercy!”  I send that one up all day long!

 

            Prayer has so many different facets beyond just asking for things.  Take the time to look up these verses, and let them kindle in you a thirst for prayer and a knowledge of the power of intercession.  Write them down for continual encouragement.

 

Communion with God through Worship and Adoration   Psalm 46:10; 84:1-4 & 145‑150; Romans 11:33‑36; Revelation 4:8‑11

 

Confession and Restoration through His Forgiveness  Psalm 51; Isaiah 57:15; Hosea 14:1-5; Hebrews 4:16; James 4:6‑10 & 5:16; 1 John 1:6‑10

 

Consecration and Dedication of our Lives to Him  1 Chronicles 29:5; Proverbs 3:3-6; Isaiah 6:8; Romans 6:13 & 12:1

 

Thanksgiving and Praise for All He Does  Psalm 136:1; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 1:3‑6; 1 Thessalonians 3:9 & 5:18

 

Petition and Intercession for our Needs and the Needs of Others  (According to God’s Will and for His Glory)  Psalm 118:4; Mark 11:24-25; Romans 8:26‑27; Colossians. 1:9‑12 & 4:2‑4; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; 1 Timothy 2:1‑3; 1 John 3:21-22

 

Spiritual Warfare!   Psalm 3:3-6; 1 Corinthians 10:12-13; 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 & 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Peter 1:3-4

 

            The Bible is full of wonderful prayers, such as Colossians 1:9-12, by which we can confidently make petition for ourselves and others to glorify God according to his will.

 

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,  being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

 

            Reserve a section in your Bible study notebook for prayer notes and guides.  Try writing down your prayers and requests along with the date and review them often to see which ones God has already answered.  If your church publishes a list of missionaries that it supports, keep this in your notebook so you can pray for them.  If you have a long list of people and situations to pray about on a regular basis, divide them into broad categories, and split each category into sections for each day of the week.  For example, on Monday you might pray especially for your firstborn child, your own parents, your church’s women’s ministry, the pro-life movement, your state government, and missionaries in South America.  You can add on extra current requests each day as needed.

 

~*~*~

 

If you are interested in ordering The Real Life Home School Mom or my other book, Common Sense Excellence, just send me an e-mail at [email protected] or read more on the resources page of my web site at: http://www.thehopechest.net/resources.html!

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