~ Gold Dust ~

I found a darling little hardback book that measures just 2.5 ” x 3.25 ” that once belonged to my grandmother. The tired little book is entitled Gold Dust, and the inscription on the inside cover reads:

To Mignon Ommert ~

With sincere good wishes for a very happy Christmas.

Your teacher,

Vesta Sheaffer   December 25, 1923

There is no copyright date on this little treasure, but the Preface is dated February 12, 1880.  Eighty-six years ago next Friday, my grandmother was given this tiny little book. Unfortunatly, my grandmother is no longer living. She has been gone for about 22 years, but when holding this little treasure that was given to her by her Sunday School teacher 86 years ago, I feel connected once again.

Here is a little snippet of beauty I caught from the pages this morning:

Few positions in life are so full of importunities as that of a mother of a family, or mistress of a house. She may have a dozen interruptions while writing one letter, or settling an account. What holiness, what self-control is needed to be always calm and unruffled amid these little vexations, and never to manifest the slightest impatience.

Leaving the work without apparent annoyance, replying with a smile upon the lips, awaiting patiently the end of a long conversation, and finally returning calmly to the yet unfinished work ~ all this is the sign of a recollected soul, and one that waits upon God.

Oh! What blessing s are shed around them by such patient souls…but alas! how rarely are they to be met with!

I love that.

I have been so inspired by many of the readings in this little book that I thought I would share some of the sharper insights that stood out to me as a mom. Perhaps they will inspire you as they do me.