Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14 KJV

It is hard to find words majestic enough, beautiful enough to describe October. October is wind chimes singing in the cool northwest wind. Clean linens wave in the breeze, storing the smell of October for days when we are needy. Under an incomparable blue sky, trees don their showiest apparel for a grand finale before they stand naked, limbs drooping with winter. God has blessed us with a glorious harvest, and the pantry shelves and freezers are bursting with summer's bounty. We watch the squirrels in the backyard as they frantically gather hickory nuts, sensing a barren time ahead without any weather forecasts. We stack the stalks of spent okra and rake the detritus of tomatoes and squash as we plan next year's garden. Sweatshirts and flannel pajamas have replaced shorts and tees, and we add quilts to the bed. We snuggle under them while the open windows invite breezes to cleanse the stale air-conditioned air that we have breathed all summer. The ten o'clock train whistle ...

Last week, I wrote about settin' up with the dead. Today, the subject is settin' up with the sick, which should have come first. Fortunately, as far as I know, this blog is not being graded, so I guess that's okay. Our world of quiet, sanitary hospitals has come a long way. In my childhood, if anyone went to the hospital, we knew they were in extremely serious condition. Doctor visits were mostly limited to obviously broken bones and injuries that wouldn't stop bleeding. It seems unbelievable now, but I have known people who sewed up their own wounds with a sewing needle and quilting thread. I have known people whose limbs healed improperly because they were set at home, sometimes causing a lifelong limp or disability. Just like wakes, settin' up with the sick was a community event. The purpose was to help the sick and their family, but it was usually just an excuse for visiting. Families would help with feeding the livestock and getting meals together, and then the...

And it came to pass. . . .

It is fall--time for harvest! Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:37-38 (KJV) Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Corinthians 9:10 (NIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

From earliest recorded history, every society has had their rituals for burying the dead. From anointing the body with oils and herbs to mummifying it, these rituals were meant to honor and sometimes preserve the departed, and to provide a venue where the living could remember and show respect to the departed. Back in the day in West Tennessee, comfortable air-conditioned funeral parlors were for the genteel town folk. People in the country took care of their own, washing and preparing the body, then laying the deceased out for the wake. Somewhere in the fifties, laws were enacted that required embalming the dead. After that, the body would be taken to town for the embalming and dressing process, then returned home to lie in state in the same living room where they had played and rested and taken care of business. Friends and family would arrive early with fried chicken and apple pies and bowls of vegetables. They would ask if there was anything they could do, but there usually wasn...

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. Proverbs 28:19