Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. My topic today is rest for the weary. I have a feeling that I am not the only one who is feeling weary and who is longing for rest. After a while the stresses of life seem to pile up and you realize that you really are weary and that you need rest. True rest can be hard to find and it can also be hard to do. There are often compelling reasons not to rest. It is hard to step away.
Come to Me
Jesus knew this and he often went in to the wilderness to retreat, to rest. In Matthew 11:18 we are encouraged to come to Him, to give our burdens to him. What a comfort! I need to do this more often and I want to encourage you to do the same.
Rest for the Weary
Last week I was blessed to be able to spend four days with my parents. I rested with them. Of course I had some normal work to do, meal preparation and clean up, but for the most part we simply communed together and enjoyed each other’s company. How wonderful! Old letters were retrieved from boxes and tins and photo albums were brought to light. This in turn brought forth amazing stories and reminiscing. Here are some pictures that I took from my time with them, but first here is the poem that inspired me to make “rest” my word for 2021.
Here is a closer view of the poem, but I wanted you to see the photo that went with it as it is so restful.
Letters and Stories
This was a letter that Mom sent to Pap when he was working for a peat moss company in Manitoba before they got married. Note the lack of street address and postal code. This tiny town was literally just an encampment on a railway spur. 25 cents was a lot of money back then for a letter and we complain about postage now!
This letter was sent to Pap by Mom when he was sailing back to Canada to go back to work for another year before getting married. The letter was actually sent to the ship and he received it. I don’t know if he got it while at sea but he certainly did the moment the ship docked in Halifax.
This is a stack of letters sent by Pap to Mom. Pap was quite the colourful writer but we are denied access to these letters until after their death. Mom did share that she thinks these letters made an enormous difference when Pap was all alone in a foreign country. Letters were sent more often than once a week!
The History of Happy Mail
As you can see, my life has been steeped in happy mail. I also wrote letters to Holland to my oma and to my cousin, in Dutch! Later I also wrote letters to Gerard. Now I make beautiful cards and write letters in them. I am thankful that my mom kept all those letters and I am also glad that my Dutch has improved to the extent that I can tackle these old missives. Cursive writing crammed on a page to get as much in as possible makes for a difficult read!
Last Day to Order from Holiday Catalog
Today is the last day to order from the Holiday Catalog, so if there was something tugging at your heartstrings, get it now!! Please do you use the current host code as found on the side of my blog home page. Tomorrow is the beginning of Saleabration. The first ten people to place an online order will get a sampler of the Berry Blessed paper.
If you want to see another card made with this beautiful bundle, check out this blog post. Please join me for daily live videos on both my Pampered Stamper page and my personal page with the COVID countdown.
Tomorrow morning I will be live on YouTube with my virtual coffee and a card class. You can join me by subscribing to my channel.
I hope you have a super day and thanks so much for joining me today.
I love all those old letters. I still have my first love letter that I receive when I was 14 years old. It’s 48 years ago… Oh my god times fly.
Thank you for helping me remember that that time xxx
Wow, Ann-Marie. That letter sure is precious. In our hearts we do not age. Take that letter out and read it together again. Gerard and I still have each other’s letters from long ago as well and we have read them together with joy.
Jackie, your poem and pic are wonderful! Thank you for sharing. I, too, have kept my letters from my husband 52 years ago when he was in Viet Nam. When he was alive two years ago, we would got them out Valentine’s Day (when we met through the mail) and read them to each other. I am glad that your Mom and Pap’s letters are to be read by family after they pass on to life eternal. I will re-read mine next month and put a note on them so my children can read them after I go to be with Jesus, if they so desire. The letters are quite amusing with neither of us having met face-to-face and I already know I’ll need a box of tissues! We married after 4 months of courtship when he returned to the states. My husband’s parents destroyed their letters from when his father was overseas during World War II. Mom didn’t want anyone to read them…such a lost treasure. I’m glad your parents chose not to do that. You will be blessed! I love your personal posts and wanted to take this opportunity to let you know. Hugs from sunny Florida!
Wow Karen, how lovely! What an amazing story that you met through the mail and then went on to have a long and happy marriage. You must have been a rock for him while he was in Viet Nam. Thanks so much for commenting, I really appreciate it.
This is a beautiful post and I enjoyed sharing in your reminiscing. Is there an author for the poem or a reference for the book? Thank you for this wonderful, peaceful walk.
NO, there is no author or reference which is really too bad. Otherwise I would have shared it for sure or found the source. Thanks for asking and if I find it I will definitely share.
Love you post , it is so meaningful to me at this time.
Thanks so much Jane for taking the time to comment. Letters are an amazing way to connect. My oma also saved the letters that my mom sent her. I can’t wait to see those because they tell our family history.
Your mention of your father docking in Halifax reminded me of a trip I took there about 5 years ago. My husband was working there for a week and I flew out to spend the long week end with him, and we flew home together. We did all the touristy things, including a museum at the port. Karl was seven months old when he came to Canada from Germany. He mistakenly thought they had docked in Halifax, and he told one of the girls working there. They got all excited and gave us our own private tour of the place. We called his Dad ( in Edmonton) to tell him where we were, and Dad said ” But we docked in Montreal!!” We didn’t tell the museum girls since they were so excited, but we didn’t let Karl forget his mistake haha. His excuse? He was a baby then and forgot where they landed!
I visited the pier in Halifax a number of years ago, it is a fantastic museum. (Pier 21) What a great story Carole! Thanks for sharing.