My Back Door: Daily Abiding with Granny

DAILY ABIDING WITH GRANNY

"Tithe of Blessings"

"Let him labor, working with his hands
the thing that is good,
that he may have to give to him that needeth."
(Ephesians 4:28)

When I created Granny's character, I gave her some of my mother's traits. Here is one that I learned from my mother - giving a tithe of God's blessings. My mother always designated some of her garden to the Lord. Whatever grew in those parts were given to others- pastor's famlies, missionaries, elderly people, etc. No matter where she planted those rows in the garden, they always grew the best carrots, beans, or cabbages.

Granny knows that the fruit of her land is a gift from God, and she wants to show her gratitude by sharing it with those in need. Here is a taste of Granny's generosity -

"The Apple Orchard"

By the time the sun burned away the morning mists, Phoebe was awake, and the girls made quick work of straightening the house. By mid-morning, everyone paraded down to the sweet smelling orchard.
            Shadow sniffed ahead and chased a squirrel up the nearest tree. Zeke pulled Phoebe and some bushel baskets on a low, flatbed wagon he found in the barn. Maseppa supported Granny over the rocks and roots. Even Cinnamon joined them, picking her way through the damp grass.
Zeke climbed a pointed ladder into the crooked branches and tossed apples down into their open aprons. One fell from a branch and bounced off Granny's head.
        “Hey! Watch where you’re aiming!”
        "Maseppa," Phoebe tugged on her sleeve. "May I climb up there with Zeke? I want to throw down apples, too. Please?"
            It be long way to fall. What if Phoebe be hurt?
            Zeke peered down through the branches. "Don't worry, Maseppa. I'll help her. Every child should climb a tree sometime."
            They worked hard all morning long. The apples that were too hard to reach, Zeke captured with a wire basket on a long pole. Of course, none of them could resist biting into the crisp, red skin to taste the sweet juice beneath. Each rosy apple was carefully nestled in straw to protect it for its journey. The apples on the ground were placed in separate baskets to use for cooking. . . .
Granny gently brushed her fingers over the mounded baskets as she counted them. “Zeke, which basket is the fullest and the best?”
            “I reckon the one on the end. Why?”
            “Give that one to the Muggins family, out on the back Horse Heaven Road.”
            “I recollect their place—kind of run-down with a passel of youngsters? Why there?”
            “When you give unto the least, you give it to the Lord. That’s the tithe of my first-fruits. I have some mittens for the wee ones and other things too.”
“But you don’t have nearly enough for yourself.”
            “I haven’t gone hungry yet.”