THE MYSTERIOUS MISSING PICTURE!

Now that I already revealed the secret of the "knitted project" featured a few posts ago, here's the accidentally deleted picture! Sorry, I hope you like these unusual knitted fingerless gloves! They remind me of something from another era--like you'd see in medieval times or something. I really am enjoying them and know I will want to make more. They are handy because your fingers are free unlike traditional gloves, yet your hands stay warm.

MORE ON NOBILITY

As I wrote on the last few posts, I have really been pondering "nobility" for a number of reasons. With all the family history searching that's been going on, the thoughts about nobility increased. When Rhiannon began making connections clear back to 1221 (assuming the research is correct) we began to learn of legends surrounding some ancient members of the family. These stories involved famous battles, kings, and crusades! While no one can positively confirm these things, they made for alot of interesting study. While it appears that none of the family we have yet traced was actual royalty, it is quite possible that some of them received their lands and occupations from grants given in return for favors to kings. I did some studying this week and learned so much about the old systems of feudalism in England and Europe. It appears that this is very accurate about the way you received land and appointments.

In my studies I read alot about the Crusades and the rise of "knights" and chivalry. It was very interesting, but one of the most interesting things to me was the fact that young boys who might become knights were first expected to serve. One book indicated that they were expected to serve in all manner of ways to learn many skills and "earn" the knowledge and right to rise to another level of greater service and rank. With more rank came more honor. It reminded me of Jesus words that he who would be great must first be a servant. (Matthew 20:26)

So, I think another quality of "nobility" is servanthood. You rise to ranks of honor and privilege by first serving. You do not expect things to be handed to you on a silver platter. Isn't that a bit of what was being lived out in the Bereans of Acts? Instead of just taking the words given to them, they studied to be sure they contained truth. Paul was not the least bit offended by them taking the time to check his message. Apparently even in their diligence, they had a willing and open mind that longed to receive the gospel. Being teachable is a wonderful quality to adopt. As a teacher (I have taught in Sunday school in many capacities) it is always nice to deal with teachable people. Maybe "nobility" is connected to servanthood, teachability, and diligence as in the Berean's search of scripture). Just some thoughts. Blessings, LORI

BAKING, KNITTED LACE GLOVES, AND MORE ON NOBILITY!

Just wanted to share a few pictures with you today before launching into another post on nobility! The first picture reveals the finished product of the picture I recently posted asking you to guess the knitted item! A pair of knitted lace fingerless gloves! I really like them. They keep your hands pretty warm. At first I couldn't understand why anyone would want to wear "fingerless" gloves, but many people do, I have learned, and they are quite comfortable! Do you like them? I surely enjoyed knitting them.

The next pictures are out of order, but they are as you can see, a pan of dinner rolls, the finished product of what I'm doing in the last few pictures. But, a bit of explanation--I had recently decided to try a recipe for bulk hot roll mix. I have an old cookbook of bulk recipes for master mixes. A hot roll mix is in there, so here I am mixing up the simple ingredients. The rolls, very tasty I might add, are the result of the recipe you see me making!

MORE THOUGHTS ON NOBILITY

Have you been pondering what it means to be noble? I think we use the term somewhat incorrectly nowadays in that we often think of royalty when we speak of nobility, as if someone can be of "noble birth," or born into a royal family. While that may be one shade of the meaning of nobility, I think there's more. It's a quality as well as a station. Therefore, you can aspire to nobility without being the child of someone who is heir to a throne! The Bible reference I cited in Acts certainly would support that. The group of people in the verse are called "noble." As I said, at first I was really confused about this and wondered about this quality. If you read the whole verse ( I was centering on the noble part and not considering the other part as much!) you see that nobility, at least in one sense, is a response to life's situations.

The verse in Acts speaks of the Bereans being more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was teaching was true. Nobility was based on their response to information presented to them. Nobility was a behavior. More on the next post.......Blessings, LORI

CONSIDERING NOBILITY

Due to some of the events of the recent past, I want to post at least a two part series on my blog urging my readers to “consider nobility.”

Let me begin with a key verse that has been on my mind for many months. It is found in Acts chapter 17. Verse 11, speaking of the people Paul ministered to in Berea, states, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

This verse caused me to think a lot for months and months about whether some people are “more noble” than others. Not wanting to be the kind of person that prejudges people, this kind of made a conflict in my mind. Is there some quality that is inborn in certain people that is “more noble” than others just by virtue of something within them? That didn’t seem right since the whole counsel of scripture would seem to indicate that all of us are on a level playing field in God’s eyes. In fact, we are all born in sin since the fall and must be saved. So what does this verse really indicate? Since I was obviously missing something, that just goes to show that meditating on a passage of scripture, studying it and re-thinking it over time, is a good practice!

Over the months as I thought about this, I observed a lot about human nature. Isn’t it observable that some places seem to receive the teaching of the Gospel more readily than others? Aren’t some people just easier to get along with than others that you meet? Does this “noble” quality have something to do with that? I came to no real hard and fast conclusions—until this week.
My daughter, Rhiannon, just loves to study family history as I’ve mentioned before. Through the good records left by my grandma, (my father’s mother), we realized we could trace quite a long line of our family. They seemed to have been here “forever,” like the old joke, “they came over on the Mayflower.” Well, if they did, we can’t prove it, but the earliest record of our ancestral line shows the first one born in America in 1635, only 15 years after the landing of the Mayflower. That was kind of exciting. In studying further we could not trace this person any more. However, we did realize that the wife, one of our great, great, however many ‘greats’ grandmother’s line of people were easily traceable. Someone had already done the work and posted vast amounts of information on the internet about this family. More research done this week added a few more generations to our list. Since we last checked the reliable websites someone had posted more names and dates. We now have an unbroken list from my grandchildren back to the year 1221—24 generations! The amazing stories and history that go along with this made me think much more about this quality of “nobility.” I read and studied a lot this week in history books, on the internet, as well as meditating on this verse. I’ll share what I think I’ve discovered on the next post.Meanwhile, read that verse and think about it. See what the Lord speaks to you concerning "nobility." Blessings, LORI