God meant that we should kneel, the short poems begins. Leora Wilson copied this longhand and kept it tucked in her small Grace Before Meals handbook. “Guthrie Center, Iowa, 1950,” she wrote inside the cover.
Kneeling God meant that we should kneel to do The things that make life good. To bathe the baby in the tub, To polish fragrant wood. To ight the fire on the hearth, To tend a flower bed. . . God didn't make us reach for these, He made us kneel instead. - Ella Carolyn Jerauld.
Grace Before Meals: Brief Prayers Arranged For Each Day in the Year compiled by A. William Nyce and Hubert Bunyea, 1938.
A deep, insightful message! I never cease to be amazed at how wise your ancestors were to keep such “ephemera.” Things that my ancestors must have thought were senseless to keep and that other, unthinking, ancestors discarded as “junk.”
Grandma Leora kept so many clippings and “stuff,” but I was taken by this one, copied in her own hand.
Humbling, isn’t it?!
It certainly is!
What a treasure, Joy. There’s something about holding these handwritten pieces that connects us to our dear ones. So good. 🥰❤️🥰
She kept SO many clippings, but took the time to write this one. Yes, dear Vicki!
Love it! 🥰❤️🥰
Beautiful.
Thank you, Sir.
Love this poem! Precious keepsake!
Thank you, Linda.
A lovely poem and so true. Thanks, Joy.
And in Grandma Leora’s handwriting. Thank you, John.
That was the best part.
I love the poem! So simple, yet so profound.
Isn’t it though?
😊
What a lovely poem to have.
Especially in Grandma’s handwriting!
Leora appeared to be a humble person. The act of kneeling must have been very important for her to handwrite and keep this lovely poem. 🙂
It’s such a winsome way to think about common actions, isn’t it.
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Beautiful, Joy, and meaningful. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thanks, Tim.
It’s always wonderful to find these bits of ephemera our ancestors hand-wrote, or to find someone in the family who was a poet or writer or journalist. It is a lovely and simple poem, which are usually the best and best-remembered. How fortunate for you!
Thank you, Karen. I’m the fourth generation oldest daughter so I’ve become the keeper of ephemera from my motherline. My next book, due out in a couple of months, is Meadowlark Songs: A Motherline Legacy, mostly free verses revealing details about seven generations. Yes, I’m so fortunate to be the family keeper and to be able to share so much. (Grandma Leora lost three sons during WWII, so she’s the reason I needed to share her story, then have just kept going!)