As I get older I tend to become more nostalgic. This seems to especially happen in the fall of the year. (Question: I hear and use the expressions "fall of the year" and "spring of the year," but don't recall ever having heard or used the expressions "summer of the year" and "winter of the year." Why is that?) Recently, I had a long visit with three old college friends—Lynn Anderson, Lee Smith (great-grandson of the great evangelist T. B. Larimore), and Kent Hall—with whom I was in school at Freed-HardemanCollege over fifty years ago. We had a blast recalling "the former days."
The words of the apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy (the last letter he is known to have written) have always struck a nostalgic note somewhere deep in my soul: "Come before winter" (II Timothy 4:21). I think it was Clarence McCartney who preached a great sermon from that text. I have used it on a few occasions. It is a reminder that if we do not take care of some things "before winter," they never will be taken care of.
Another old college friend, Aubrey Wilson, sent me an article a few months ago that also put me in a nostalgic mood. I think it helps some of us who are older to remember what life was like at an earlier, quieter, simpler time. I hope you will enjoy "Grandma's Apron."
I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons required less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that old-time apron that served so many purposes. And remember: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from that apron -- but love! There is something about "Grandma's Apron" that not only puts me in a nostalgic mood, but it also makes me think of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a wonderful day of the year, but I hope that you will remember that thanksgiving is not just a day but a constant attitude (see Ephesians 5:20). Hugh Fulford |
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