Times Have Changed!

This is from 1960, and so strange, because this looks just like my mother, sister and myself. Even the haircolor is the same!

Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 (The Message)

There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

^2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

I have noticed that as I get older, I remember things that happened so many years ago, and I am like, "where did that come from?"  I guess it is normal, sometimes pleasant and sometimes not, but this one just happened to be a pleasant memory:

Things have changed so much since I was a little girl growing up in a rural setting where "going to town" was a much anticipated event. Waiting for the mail to run was also exciting. I remember when my mother ordered a sewing machine from Sears and Roebuck. When that catalog came or the wish book as it was called, a whole world opened up for us. Things I couldn't imagine having and wishing for it, well, that was really big and impossible. Anyway, back to the machine. My mother was and would be considered in this day and time, an expert seamstress. No pattern, just looking in the "wish book", she would sew clothes for me and my sister. By the way, I have a daughter, Candace, that does not need a pattern either. For sis and I, we need those patterns! lol. So this machine that had all the fancy stitches would be amazing!  The machine was chosen and ordered and the wait began. Every day we would be waiting for the mail to run and finally after about 3 weeks, he pulled up to the house with the package. I remember all of us being so excited! My mother had that thing figured out and would use it for many years to come. No telling how many dresses for us was made on it. We always were dressed so pretty and of course had the latest fashions, because that wonderful wish book provided the patterns.
So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I am not sure except the fact that change can be good, they call it progress. Of course it can be bad to! because my mother has gone to be with the Lord and there will always be a empty place in my heart, makes me very sad.  Even after all these years, I miss her so. The good part of buying a sewing machine, or whatever we want these days just means a trip to WalMart or the mall, no waiting and we will have our purchase. And did I say, No waiting! But, to be honest with you, the  best memories I have of shopping would have to be with my mother and the things we ordered from Sears and Roebucks. It had more meaning than any purchase I have ever made..
I hope you have memories that stir your heart and cause you to be so thankful for your family. Those of you that still have your parents and grandparents, spend time with them making memories, there is a season for everything just as Gods' Word tells us, and one day things will change again, they will be gone and you will be the "older" ones. Our time here is very limited, worrying and getting caught up in the worldly things of this life will only cause stress and unrest. Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly! There can and should be peace even though everything around us changes, and it will change!  When we are rooted and grounded in faith, these changes will not uproot us. So my prayer for you today is to embrace this day, remembering the blessed hope that awaits us. Remember the good things in our past, but don't stay there long, and most of all remember who you are in Christ
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So, in this post, we have gone from a sewing machine to heaven! I pray something was said to encourage your heart and maybe stir a memory or two.

Blessings and encouraging words to you, daughters and friends!