Yesterday, on a rainy, cold grey Sunday in January, our fifth baby girl, Leia Hyacinth, was carried in the arms of our pastor and blessed, dedicating her life to Jesus.
It is an act of promise between parents and the church to raise their little one close to the Heart of God.
After, amidst the joyful celebrating, the gathering, the lunch busy with friends and family, my cousin handed me a small package as a gift to honor the day of blessing. Unwrapping the gift, I found a small wooden, carved woman, cradling dark red apples in her hands.
“It’s just a simple gift,” my cousin said, “but it reminded me of that Scripture about apples ….”
Apples of Gold … yes, I remember. I thanked her for the gift and fingered the wooden form …
…. I remembered the verse, but couldn’t recall all of it or the meaning.
The next morning, during our homeschooling calm, a window of time opened up to do my devotions. I flip open my Bible and scan to find the Scripture … the verse about apples.
A word fitly spoken … the proper word said at the right time is as valuable as gold?
Amazing!
How many times have words come out of my mouth during the day that are nowhere near worth a a dollar, much less a penny?
How many times have I let something slip off my tongue only to wish the words were never said?
… I see my second born, my vibrant, brave six year old, studying her memory verses for this week …
“Be kind and compassionate one to another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
She is thrilled to be reading from a Bible and is excited that she can find the chapter and verse {mostly} on her own.
She begins teaching her younger sister … making her repeat each line after her … Lucia, my 5 year old, loudly recites the verse with pride now.
… I sit back and take in the scene.
Apples of Gold.
Settings, pictures of silver.
Words fitly spoken.
And I realize the most logical way to ensure ‘words fitly spoken’ come from our hearts and out our mouths is to fill our hearts and minds with what is right and ‘fit’ …
Could there be anything more fitting than verses of Scripture?
Maybe, I wondered, maybe I should be challenging myself to fill my mind and thoughts with even more Scripture …
…yes, the Bible is read on a daily basis … my lips constantly send prayers to Heaven and as a child I memorized so much Scripture through school for which I am eternally grateful … but now, as an adult, especially as mother with five listening ears and close-watching eyes, maybe I should be memorizing {more} Scripture? Filling my mind with words fitly spoken … replenishing my tired, human arms with golden apples and pictures of silver …
This dedication of baby Leia … this commitment to raise her in a godly home … these moments of life with the five thriving children being schooled at home … the day in and day outs of a regular woman’s life … the cleaning, the scrubbing, the laundry, the normalcy … they need more golden apples. They need pictures of silver.
“You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Deuteronomy 6:7
My husband sends me a message to say he will be late for dinner. My immediate human response was to send a message back complaining about the night time tasks ahead of me that I faced alone … and then I remember.
Apples of Gold. Words fitly spoken.
And I smile inside.
I count my blessings. I glance around the room at the healthy children, now scurrying off to make believe in their tent … I listen to them giggle and and pretend to be mice, scurrying through a human’s house, and I thank God that there is a healthy dinner to be set on the table. That my husband is coming home eventually. That there are still five beautiful people to eat dinner with …
Harsh words left unspoken in exchange for a picture of silver.
My new personal goal?
To fill my arms so full of Apples of Gold that there is no room for anything unfit.
Where do I start. Here. Join me if you can.
by Gigi
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