Patricia's Lost and Found Ring

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Mark 11:24 (NIV)

 Patricia and Lula Bell were writing encouragements in Bibles to hand out to the graduates at Hayesville High School.  Eighty four seniors were to graduate and invited to the Baccalaureate Service at Truett Church. The women were in the conference room working, but decided to place the boxes in the pastor's office.

The boxes of Bibles were very heavy.  Patricia almost dropped them on the pastor's desk.  When one box slipped from her hand, it ripped the emerald set from her ring.  She and Lula Bell searched everywhere for the set.  They looked on the desk, got on the floor, couldn't find it anywhere.  Now this was a special ring and Patricia was distraught that she had lost it.

She and Lula Bell prayed that they would find the ring.

Patricia went home, put on her pajamas and prayed again that she would find her ring.  The next morning, she got up and something was sparkling on the floor.  She thought it was a lightning bug and got a tissue to pick it up.  

When she picked up the hard object, Patricia gasped.  It was the emerald set to her ring.  She lifted a prayer of praise because God had answered her and Lula Bell's prayer.

Finding the ring was like sweet music to Patricia's ears, but she wasn't surprised.  Nothing was too hard for God! 

I believe in praying for simple things even to finding a precious ring.

DECORATION DAY

 Many of my relatives are buried at Many Forks Baptist Church in Towns County, Georgia.  Each year on the fourth Sunday in May, they hold Decoration Day.  Families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of loved ones.  Worship service is held of the morning, then they break for dinner-on-the-grounds.  That afternoon a singing is held in the church. This old-time mountain tradition is fading away.  

Decorating graves was founded to remember deceased soldiers.  It was the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed by Congress in 1968, that officially changed Decoration Day to Memorial Day effective in 1971.

I recall my mama made roses from crepe paper for the decoration.  Flowers were cut from crepe paper, dipped in melted wax to form the roses.  Mama made a box of these flowers to place on the graves of loved ones.  

Before the men made tables from planks, dinner-on-the-grounds was held on blankets that they spread on the ground under the shade trees.  The women brought boxes of food to the dinner.  Most mountain women grew a garden and there were loads of vegetables, fried chicken, cakes, pies, banana pudding, gallons of sweet tea.  No one left hungry.

It was a time of fun, fellowship, and getting acquainted with family and friends.  Here in the foreground are Aunt Dot Lee and Edna Brown, two regulars at Decoration Day.

I miss those times gathering at the country church each May to decorate the graves of loved ones, savor dinner-on-the-grounds, listen to groups lifting praises with their musical instruments.  Old-time preachers delivered uplifting messages to warm the hearts of those who attended the worship service.

A Wildflower Refuge

 My yard needs mowing?

It's like a wilderness.

Bees buzz on clover,

dragonflies whizz through azure skies.

Dog-flea flowers nod

their purple heads in the wind,

songbirds perform a gig in poplars,

and wild roses perfume the hills.

My yard needs mowing?

It's a wildflower refuge,

a scarlet robe drapes my lawn,

buttercups pop up like sun drops.

One bunny rabbit hops over

a mat of verdant grass

and nibbles granola snacks,

butterflies feed on milkweed.

Tourists tumble from a van,

Jane dances on dandelions,

Spot poses center stage,

and Dick photographs the flowers.

                --Brenda Kay Ledford 

I hope all my blogger friends are having a beautiful spring. 

                 To all the moms:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!