Sunday, October 20, 2013

Sunday Reflection...

Who can find a virtuous woman?  For her price is far above rubies.
~ Proverbs 31:10 ~

My paternal grandmother, Hazel Marie Bowman
Born October 27, 1894 -  Deceased April 2, 1992
She was 16 years old in the photograph below.


She was a devoted minister's wife, mother of ten children, grandmother to 22, and she had several great-grandchildren, and a few great-great grandchildren. One and all called her blessed.  

She's been gone 21 years, but I still think of her often.  
At her funeral the minister divided her 98 years of life into three categories:
I.  She Trusted Her Lord [by committing her life to Jesus at the age of 11]
II.  She Persevered
III.  She Finished Well

Her favorite saying was:  "Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." I like to think that my son, Steve, who was born on her birthday, and is a Christian minister/pastor, is helping to carry on her legacy.  Another great-grandson is also in full-time ministry.

Do you remember Autograph Books?  I think they're a thing of the past now, but I had a couple of them when I was growing up, and below is what my dear grandmother wrote in one of them.  The edges of the page have faded with time, but what she wrote are still words to live by today.


"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."  Proverbs 25:11 KJV

Words are little things that are easily spoken and we forget what power they have to give pleasure or pain.  They seem so swiftly gone that we forget that they do not go away at all, but remain like barbed arrows in the heart when they strike or like fragrant flowers distilling perfume.  They seem powerless for evil or good, but we forget that they either tear down or build up fabrics of joy and peace in the souls of those to whom we speak them.  They are the vehicles of thoughts.  Let's be generous with the good words.
~Grandma Bowman~

What words of wisdom.  God help me to follow them.  I so want to "finish well" like she did.

May God bless your week!

4 comments:

  1. A beautiful, blessed life! That "only one life" quote was a favorite of my grandmother, too. May we all finish well!

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  2. So sweet and what a special heritage you have!

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  3. Hi Phyllis, There is a lot of truth to what you've said today. I enjoyed reading about your grandmother. She was a wise woman. And Godly.

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  4. Sounds like your grandmother was a wise woman indeed! And I had an autograph book when I was a girl ... so now you've set me to pondering, where IS it?

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