Modern Day Conveniences or Distractions

This week I went back in time, leaving behind modern day convenience to revisit the days of "doing it by hand".

I am a total city girl.  I was raised in Austin, the capital city of Texas, and later-in-life moved to the huge Metroplex of Dallas/Fort Worth.  I enjoyed my visits to my grandparents' farms, but I have never had to grow my own food or sew my own clothes in order to survive.  Anything I have done has been because I chose to do it.
Isaiah 60:21
Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.

So that is why I say that this week I went back in time to do things by hand.  I chose to make strawberry jam.  Yes, I have canned in the past, but put it away for modern conveniences years ago because of my busy family's schedule.  I was so delighted at the end of the process, not only with the product, but also the enjoyment I felt from accomplishing this task.  No, I probably didn't save any money, genetic brands are very cheap. But I know my product was healthier as I limited the sugar.

While I was on a roll in my Lucy apron, June Cleaver mode, I decided it was time for some homemade strawberry ice cream.  In Texas, we are already having 80 degree weather and I haven't made homemade ice cream in years.  So I pulled down my electric ice cream maker...still a little out of date since it requires ice and rock salt.  We assembled it in our backyard and plugged it in, to the dismay of our neighbors, who would hear the noise and yet not enjoy the final product....life on a postage size lot!

As I was watching the ice cream maker do it's job, I realized my children have never seen a hand-cranked ice cream maker, nor participated in my canning.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

1 Thessalonians 4:11
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,


I realized that, although I would never give up my modern conveniences, I'm afraid we have lost some things along the way...

,,,mainly PATIENCE and the products from the work of our HANDS!

As a child, anticipating the ice cream, I helped turn the crank...it became a whole family event.  When I canned with my mother and grandmother, we all gathered around the backyard in metal, bouncing, yard chairs, to snap beans and peel peaches. Later enjoyment of the food brought a sense of pride, as well as the  patience learned.  Relationships were enhanced during the task.

There were lessons that were learned in the "doing it by hand" times.  Everyone washed the dishes, everyone picked the garden, everyone turned the ice cream freezer.  We sat in the den and hand-sewed with ongoing conversations.  Abilities and stories were passed down to the next generation.

I went to bed the other night with a grin on my face and a contentment in my heart because I had used my hands in a different way that day.  I still clean my own house, cook our meals, homeschool my children....the list goes on and on.  I love my modern day conveniences but... I think I will look for ways to bring some of the old lessons back into my family. Maybe I will find a hand-cranked ice cream freezer to start out with....don't you know my high tech adult children are going to pitch a fit (that's a Texas word for not happy)!