The Past
During many of the years my grandparents lived with us, I had long hair. I think my grandmother thought that every young girl should have long curls. She was willing to spend the inordinate amount of time it took each morning to brush through my long heavy locks and then spiral curl each strand around her finger. My mother felt this was fine as long as my grandmother was the self-appointed beautician. With my younger brothers and sister to care for, Mom didn’t have much time for elaborate beauty routines. The only person who was in complete disagreement with this ritual was…ME. I wanted to be outside playing, not standing still and enduring the torture. So, I did what any normal kid would do—I rebelled. I told all the adults that I wished to move out of the house. To my surprise, they agreed. My mother told me to pack my small suitcase and sit on the front porch while she called a taxi. I am sure she and my grandmother were chuckling and wondering how long I would sit out there before I changed my mind. It wasn’t long. My mother, of course, had never called the taxi. However, after I had been cooling my heels for about ten minutes, lo and behold, a yellow cab turned the corner at the end of the block (an occurrence I had never before witnessed). It took all of two seconds for me to pound on the front door and repent.
The Present
How I wish that national repentence could be effected as quickly and relatively painlessly as my experience. Whereas, my mother and grandmother would certainly not have let me leave home, God is not like my mother and grandmother. He is far more loving, yet able to carry through with judgment. The problem with human judgment is that it is usually administered in the heat of the moment and oftentimes with ridiculous consequences threatened (like calling a taxi for a kindergartener!). God is long-suffering, not a spur-of-the-moment God who reacts in haste. I sorrow for the world in general and this country in particular when I think of the way we have treated God. This nation has aborted over 57 million babies, refuses to allow the Bible or prayer in schools, mocks His word, bans display of the ten commandments and nativity scenes on public property, and has now legalized homosexual marriage (with the probable legalization of polygamy and sodomy to follow). I remember reading of an “art” display where Christ on the cross was embalmed in a jar of urine! And just this morning I saw a picture of the Marxist leader of Bolivia presenting to Pope Francis a momento of his time in Bolivia—Christ crucified on a hammer and a sickle! “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” (Malachi 3:16-18) Oh people, repent, serve the Lord and love Him!!!
Recipe
Crescent Cookies
1 cup buter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 ½ cups of flour
1 teas. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
Cream the butter and ½ cup powdered sugar. Add the flour, vanilla and pecans. Roll the dough into small balls and then shape each ball into a crescent. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. While still warm, roll each cookie in the remaining powdered sugar. Makes 3 dozen cookies.
I really don’t know where this recipe originated. I know my aunt used to bake these for us when I was young. I really loved them. The problem was that the powdered sugar left tell-tale marks all over one’s mouth when trying to look innocent after having been in the cookie jar.
During many of the years my grandparents lived with us, I had long hair. I think my grandmother thought that every young girl should have long curls. She was willing to spend the inordinate amount of time it took each morning to brush through my long heavy locks and then spiral curl each strand around her finger. My mother felt this was fine as long as my grandmother was the self-appointed beautician. With my younger brothers and sister to care for, Mom didn’t have much time for elaborate beauty routines. The only person who was in complete disagreement with this ritual was…ME. I wanted to be outside playing, not standing still and enduring the torture. So, I did what any normal kid would do—I rebelled. I told all the adults that I wished to move out of the house. To my surprise, they agreed. My mother told me to pack my small suitcase and sit on the front porch while she called a taxi. I am sure she and my grandmother were chuckling and wondering how long I would sit out there before I changed my mind. It wasn’t long. My mother, of course, had never called the taxi. However, after I had been cooling my heels for about ten minutes, lo and behold, a yellow cab turned the corner at the end of the block (an occurrence I had never before witnessed). It took all of two seconds for me to pound on the front door and repent.
The Present
How I wish that national repentence could be effected as quickly and relatively painlessly as my experience. Whereas, my mother and grandmother would certainly not have let me leave home, God is not like my mother and grandmother. He is far more loving, yet able to carry through with judgment. The problem with human judgment is that it is usually administered in the heat of the moment and oftentimes with ridiculous consequences threatened (like calling a taxi for a kindergartener!). God is long-suffering, not a spur-of-the-moment God who reacts in haste. I sorrow for the world in general and this country in particular when I think of the way we have treated God. This nation has aborted over 57 million babies, refuses to allow the Bible or prayer in schools, mocks His word, bans display of the ten commandments and nativity scenes on public property, and has now legalized homosexual marriage (with the probable legalization of polygamy and sodomy to follow). I remember reading of an “art” display where Christ on the cross was embalmed in a jar of urine! And just this morning I saw a picture of the Marxist leader of Bolivia presenting to Pope Francis a momento of his time in Bolivia—Christ crucified on a hammer and a sickle! “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” (Malachi 3:16-18) Oh people, repent, serve the Lord and love Him!!!
Recipe
Crescent Cookies
1 cup buter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 ½ cups of flour
1 teas. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
Cream the butter and ½ cup powdered sugar. Add the flour, vanilla and pecans. Roll the dough into small balls and then shape each ball into a crescent. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. While still warm, roll each cookie in the remaining powdered sugar. Makes 3 dozen cookies.
I really don’t know where this recipe originated. I know my aunt used to bake these for us when I was young. I really loved them. The problem was that the powdered sugar left tell-tale marks all over one’s mouth when trying to look innocent after having been in the cookie jar.