Precious Time

I’m writing this after a delightful day with Grandmom. She’s a treasure! A great joy of my life has been to be frequently in Grandmom and Grandad’s house, where the peaceful atmosphere includes love, flowers (like these gorgeous roses!), quilts, stories, and really delectable meals. Grandmom has always made her family feel right at home.

My parents, sister, and I met up there last night for supper with her and my brother’s family. Imagine my delight when she opened the oven to check on the progress of a giant, bubbly, juicy, buttery peach blueberry cobbler, one of her specialties!

After our supper and visit, I stayed on with her until late this afternoon. We spent time together on the couch in her cozy den. I crocheted a hat and she worked Scripture word-searches in between our visiting. We talked about my Grandad’s Granny, whom she fondly remembered as always being jolly and knitting lace prolifically. (She has yards of Granny’s lace, ready to sew on curtains or pillowcases.) I asked her about her mother, whom I’m named for, who had a heart for nursing sick people, loved to quilt, gardened, and raised 10 children with Granddaddy. Our time in the den was punctuated by organization projects and fixing freshly washed sheets on the bed in “the pink room.”

A little before we ate lunch today, she had another surprise for me. She told me that she had some blueberries and topping left over in the fridge from making the cobbler last night. So, we found a perfectly sized little baking dish… and she fixed us our very own blueberry cobbler!

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to love and be loved by such a sweet lady, and also for my Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandad, who have finished their race on the earth, but leave behind wonderful legacies and examples for all who knew them.

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Time is a precious gift. The subject of using time wisely and according to God’s will is always close to my heart, but especially at the beginning of a new year – when goals and possibilities of new projects and decisions are in full swing! We’re already a month into 2025, folks!

Though my blogging aspirations for 2024 fell incredibly short, I’m taking this as a positive, because the year itself was incredibly rich, full to the overflowing with projects and special moments!

The biggest highlight was welcoming a precious niece and a precious nephew into our family! These little ones bring such joy and love into my heart as would be impossible to describe! I love watching them grow and seeing their parents do an excellent work in raising them. ♥

2024 was also the backdrop for making two baby quilts with Grandmom (for those sweet babies!), our first bona fide garden year on our new homestead, two epic family trips, progress toward completing my initial study of the herb school (and getting to meet my instructor in person!), an encouraging Christian ladies’ retreat, our new perennial garden, raising our batch of meat chickens, meeting new friends, valuing my family in a renewed way, and God’s goodness and faithfulness woven into everyday life. He is so good!

It’s my hope to chronicle some of these adventures more fully in coming posts, while not losing the forward momentum of the new year, which, yes…I’m very excited about!

My “word for 2025” is Eternal. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Our life is a vapor, brief and fleeting, but every minute is precious and powerful. I’m inspired by reading in Matthew and Mark during this January – learning from Jesus Christ, my Savior, as I read how He used His time upon the earth and urges us to follow His example. Nothing is insignificant, not a moment, or an action…all has eternal value! I have been reminded, as C. T. Studd put so well – “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ shall last.”

So, I’d love to know…

What are some of your biggest highlights from 2024? What are you most excited about for 2025? What word or theme has especially been on your heart coming into this year?

I’m in anticipation of what God has in store for 2025, so thankful for the privilege of living it out with Him Who is Eternal. I’m also thankful for the blessing of savoring His sweet gifts, including time together with precious people, sharing blueberry cobbler.

Thanks for reading!

Because of Jesus,
Maggie ♥