Mistakes at home and school...

It is safe to say that we all make mistakes. It is also true that we learn from the mistakes we make. The mistakes we made as children can actually be a benefit to us if we are able to learn from them.  In childhood the consequences are usually much more minor than they are in adulthood. The Bible says that we all fall in many ways. James 3:2 -For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
I am thinking about a few specific instances in my growing up years where I did wrong and I think that through these mistakes I learned that it is better to do right from the start.
The first situation happened while I was quite young, probably around seven years old. As I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I have five sisters. This one particular sunny day my mom and older sisters were doing laundry. I had been in the house with them and it seemed that one of my sisters was having a particularly hard day and was having a hard time being cheerful and was downright grumpy. So I went outside to play. I noticed my other sister at the old well, hand pumping water to take to the house. I decided to giver her a fair warning about my other sister's grumpy disposition so I called out to her "beware". My mom overheard me and asked me " Did you say that to her because of your other sister? - because if you did, I am going to give you a spanking". Mom knew it!  I did say that as a warning to my sister but I sure did not want a spanking so I lied.   I said " No, that is not why called out the warning to....beware".  I got away with my lie  that day and I did not get the spanking I deserved and she asked no further questions. The only problem was that I felt very very guilty. We had been taught that we should not lie and I had lied on purpose in an instant to avoid pain. I didn't do anything about it for a long while, just kept it inside me and the guilt rose up inside every time I thought about it. I finally confessed to my Mom several years later. She laughed about it when I told her but to this day I remember it so well. I learned that lying and being untruthful makes me miserable. I learned that I need to face up to my wrong actions.

The second incident involved cheating on a school test. in grade 8. I usually studied hard, tried to be honest and kind and did pretty reasonable on my assignments and tests.  I can still see where I was sitting in the classroom writing the test. As I remember the teacher was Mr Revel who gave the class the test. One question puzzled me and I did not know the anwer. I looked over to the student's paper on the desk across the isle and I saw the answer that student had chosen. I marked down the same answer and felt confident that I had made the right choice. A few days later, the teacher had marked the tests and returned them to the class. To my disappointment, the question that I had cheated on was marked wrong.  From then on I knew that rather than looking over at my neighbor's papers, I would just take an honest guess if I did not know the answer on a test. Cheating did not help me at all. I believe it was to my benefit that I did not get the right answer there and I got it wrong as I deserved.

The last situation I am thinking about also happened in school in grade 9. It was in Mr. Switzer's class. Mr Switzer assigned work to the class and with orders that we were all to stay in our desks till he returned as he needed to step out for just a couple of minutes. As you may know from some of my earlier posts, I was very good friends with a girl named Nettie. So when Mr Switzer left the room I got out of my desk and went over to Nettie's  desk to help her with a few questions. I was not the only student who disobeyed but when Mr Switzer walked in and saw us out of our desks he was understandably upset. He said " Everyone of you who was out of your desk has detention at noon today. You know who you are and I know who you are so I will see you at noon." I knew that I was guilty and I had been caught. So when noon time came, I went for detention. When he saw me walk in he said to me "you were not out of your desk, you do not have detention". This was confusing for me but what could I say?  I was willing to do my time but I was shown grace and let go inspite of my mistakes. I learned that it is better for me if I own up to my mistakes and am willing to face the consequences than to hide from it.  Proverbs 28:13 - He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy

The same is true in our relationship with God.  God wants us to come to Him and confess our sins to Him and repent of them and He will forgive us and cleanse us.     The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 -

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

My friend Nettie...

In this post I would like to tell you about my friend Nettie. We became friends at school when we were in grade 8.  After finishing grade six at Graysville, I had now moved on to a bigger school in the next town. My friend Kathy stopped coming to our school after grade 7 so the Lord knew what he was doing when He sent Nettie into my life as a school friend. We shared a locker, and were together all the time at school. Together we endured the teasing/bullying of the older boys. I suppose we were teased because of us being Christians -it was then just as it is in today's world Christians are often not popular. Nettie came from a large family with many struggles. So when I got to know her she was living with her foster family. Praise God for all the Christian foster parents out there that open up their homes to children in need.  She would tell me of her time spent on weekends with her Dad and siblings. She knew even as a young teenager how to make homemade bread from scratch which she did whenever she would go home to her Dad and brothers and sisters. She had done it for them so often she didn't even need a recipe anymore. She loved going to church with her foster family. They went to the Pentecostal church. Her faith was real and it challenged me to become real with the Lord in my own faith. She would often talk about how she so was longing to be raptured and to go and be with Jesus. She was a dear friend indeed. As school was drawing to a close for us and we knew we would be parting ways, we made a promise to each other - a very girl-type promise. She promised me that no matter where life would have taken us in our different paths we would remember each other. She promised to invite me to her wedding if she ever got married and I promised her that I would invite her to my wedding if I ever got married. Neither of us were in a relationship with any guy at the time.
As time passed, she moved to the city and I stayed closer to home and got a job at the local nursing home. This was well before the time of texting, or emails so we did not stay in touch. Then one day ( we were in our twenties then) I got a terrible phone call from one of Nettie's sisters. She had been murdered by an x-boyfriend in the city and so Nettie's sister was inviting me to her funeral. That was very shocking. We had promised to invite each other for weddings but now she was gone and I was being invited to her funeral. I honestly cannot remember much beyond that. I know my parents came to the funeral too as they had got to know her as well.
In high school already,  Nettie was waiting for Jesus, but now she was taken way too soon in such a senseless and cruel way. Someday in Heaven, I'll see Nettie again. We'll sit down and talk "friend to friend".

School days

Perhaps sometime down the road, in generations to come, my family will be interested to know a few details of my life at school. It is a long time ago already and there would be a lot more than I can write but here is a bit of it. Most of my school years were in the late 1960's and through the 1970's.
Every morning I would wake up to the old wind-up type chime clock chiming seven times and that meant I had to get up and get ready for school. As I remember the school bus arrived at the end of our lane at ten minutes before 8 am and my sisters and I were off to school. School started at 9am as it still does here in our town now.
There was no preschool or kindergarten in my day so I started school when I was six years old going into grade one at Graysville which was a tiny village about ten miles from our home. The school was a simple four classroom school, with the an auditiorium ( now they would call it the gym) in the basement, the classrooms on the main floor and the teachers office was upstairs. There were three teachers in the school. Mrs Gray taught grade 1&2, Mrs McIntosh taught grades 3&4, and Mrs Watt taught grades 5&6. Approximately seventy students attended this school on an average year.
My memories of each grade are few though in my mind I can still see where my desk was in each grade. I remember in grade one at lunch time the classroom doors were open and when I would look behind me I could see my sister sitting at her desk in her classroom eating her lunch as well and the security it brought me just seeing her there across the hall. Also in grade one, one day when Mrs Gray was doing our sight memory words with the class she put out a new word which was the word "Christmas". She proceeded to ask if anyone knew the word and I gladly raised my hand. Then she scolded me for knowing a word that she had not taught the class and I was a bad girl for having learned it ahead of the other children. I remember my friend Diana in grade one and two and that she moved away.
 I failed a test in grade 3. I had missed some days of school and so I didn't know enough about pemmican to pass the test. Pemmican is a high protein energy food developed by the Native Americans long ago.  Also in grade 3, I remember four boys got a spanking with the strap. I don't know what they had done wrong but I can still see Mrs McIntosh, her red face, and the four boys standing  at the front of the class. She got the strap from her desk and each one had to hold out his hands and they got their due one by one with the whole class watching.  Mrs. McIntosh had two sons of her own in the class while I was in her classroom. It seemed her boys were allowed to see tests and assignments before the rest of us in the class. It seemed unfair and like she favored them.  In grade 4, I was having trouble seeing the blackboard. I didn't know that I needed glasses but when my parents got a visit from the school division nurse, I had to be taken to the optometrist and I got my first pair of glasses. I have worn glasses ever since. I didn't like having to wear glasses because none of my sisters needed glasses so I felt different. I often would pray that my eyes would be better but that was a prayer that I had to accept would not be answered with a yes.
In grade 5, I won second place in our school's science fair. I did my project on Scientific Changes in physcial and chemical things. It was an exciting accomplishment for me. I also became school bus captain in grade six. I had to keep an eye an the kids in the bus and report to the teacher whatever I thought necessary. I actually can't remember reporting anything but I know I felt the responsibilty to watch the other kids. Also every year in June, our school would have "track and field day". It was just a fun day for which  we spent hours and days preparing for and in grade 6, I was fortunate to become team captain for for one of our school's teams. All the kids from all ages and grades were divided into our groups. There were relay races, long jump, high jump, track races, and baseball. High jump was my favorite as I was a bit taller than some girls and I did reasonably well at it. Parents could come for the day to watch. They would set up a canteen for the day ( the rest of the year there was no canteen at all). It was a lot of fun.
Some distinct memories of fellow classmates. Patricia was an excellent artist. I never knew how she could draw so well but now that I also am a mom, I know how much kids can learn from watching TV especially Mr Dressup. We didn't have a TV in our home as I was growing up. Perhaps Patricia watched Mr Dressup and learned to draw that way. Darlene had a banana in her lunch every single day. I could never figure out how her family could have bananas every day. At our house having a banana was an occasional treat. Marylynne was popular and mature and often came to the bus with toast in hand.  Judith and Sharon were cousins and mostly stayed together. There was Valerie who always had the best costume for parties and another Valerie who was from a very poor family. There were boys too but I guess the memories are fewer of the boys than with the girls except for on the bus where the boys oftentimes made their mark.
There were in class school parties for Valentine's day, Halloween and Christmas. So much to remember from school days.
 Some day I will post about my high school experiences. For grade seven and on we had to ride the bus to the next town and there are many memories from there as well.