Monday, February 22, 2021

Color these fancy "egg heads" for Easter!

Fancy "egg heads"

Description of Coloring Page: Egg heads include a traditional Dutch girl in costume, a pirate, a mysterious magician and an egg decorated with springtime flowers. 

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Christ Rose By His Own Power

       He rose in the night; no hand at the door, no voice in his ear, no rough touch awaking him. Other watchers than Pilate's soldiers stood by the sepulchre; but those angels whom it well became to keep guard at this dead man's chamber door, beyond opening it, beyond rolling away the stone, beyond looking on with wondering eyes, took no part in the scenes of that eventful morning. The hour sounds; the appointed time arrives. Having slept out his sleep, Jesus stirs; he awakes of his own accord he rises by his own power; and arranging, or leaving attending angels to arrange, the linen clothes, he walks out on the dewy ground, beneath the starry sky, to turn grief into the greatest joy, and hail the breaking of the brightest morn that ever rose on this guilty world. That open empty tomb assures us of a day when ours too shall be as empty. Having raised himself, he has power to raise his people, panic-stricken soldiers flying the scene, and Mary rising from his blessed feet to hasten to the city, to rush through the streets, to burst in among the disciples, and with a voice of joy to cry, He is risen, He is risen! prove this is no vain brag or boast, "I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." Rev. Dr. Guthrie.

Chris Tomlin "Jesus"

What Is Death?
"What is the soul? The seminal principle from the loins of destiny,
This world is the womb: the body, its enveloping membrane:
The bitterness of dissolution, dame Fortune's pangs of childbirth.
What is death? To be born again, an angel of eternity."
                                                                                Buzurgi. (The Persian Poet.)

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Easter Games by Lina Beard, 1905

       In the game they play at Washington, on the hills sloping from the White House, the child whose egg reaches the foot of the hill in an unbroken condition takes the one worsted in the journey down. Another game for two is played by knocking the eggs together ; each child holds an egg firmly in his hand so that only the small end is visible, and then the two eggs are struck against each other until one is cracked, when the victorious player adds it to his stock, or devours it on the spot. I would not like to state the number of eggs eaten on these occasions, but there is a boy (not a girl) who once consumed fourteen and lived to tell the tale.
       Sometimes the egg which breaks another is called "the cock of one," and when it has broken two it is " cock of two," and so on. When an egg which is cock of one or more is broken, the number of trophies won by the victim is added to the score of the conquering egg and it becomes " cock of three " or more. Here is a game which comes from Germany, and al- though in that country it is played exclusively by boys, there is no reason why the girls should not participate in it as well. Two baskets are necessary for this game, one large and shallow filled with soft shavings, the other shallow also, but smaller, and filled with eggs. The plan of the game is that one player is to run a given distance, while another safely throws the eggs from one basket to the other, she who completes her task first being the winner. When the baskets are prepared, and the distance the eggs are to be thrown decided upon, the two contestants draw lots to determine who shall run and who shall throw. This settled, the player who throws takes the basket of eggs, and one after another quickly tosses them the length of the course and into the basket of shavings, which is placed on the ground at the end of the course opposite the thrower. In Germany this basket is held by an assistant, but anyone occupying that position might receive some severe blows from the hard eggs thrown by unpracticed hands, and it answers the purpose just as well to place the basket on the ground. Meantime the other player runs the distance (decided beforehand) to an appointed goal, marks it as a proof of having touched it, and should she succeed in returning before all the eggs are thrown, the victory and prize are her reward; otherwise they belong to the thrower.
       The game finished, a prize is presented to the successful contestant. Should any of the eggs pitched by the thrower fail to light in the basket, they must be gathered up and thrown again before the runner returns, as the eggs must all be in the basket before the thrower wins the game.
       "Bunching eggs " comes from Ireland, and is played in very much the same manner as the game played with a slate and pencil, and known to all children as " tit, tat, toe, three in a row." A pan or large dish filled with sand or sawdust is set upon a table, around which the children stand, each supplied with eggs; the eggs of each player must be all of one color, and unlike those of any other player. The object of the game is for each player to so place her eggs, standing them upright in the sand, or sawdust, as to bring five in a row touching each other.
       In turn each player puts down an egg, sometimes filling out a row for herself, at others cutting off the line of an opponent; and the one who first succeeds in obtaining the desired row sings out--

"The raven, chough, and crow,
Say five in a row."

       Another pretty game from Ireland called " Touch " is played in the following manner:
       Six eggs of the different colors green, red, black, blue, white, and gold are placed in a row in the sand used for the other game. One of the players is blindfolded and given alight wand or stick, with which she must touch one of the eggs, while at the same time she recites these lines:

Peggy, Patrick, Mike, and Meg,
See me touch my Easter egg ;
Green, and red, and black, and blue,
Count for six, five, four, and two.
If I touch an egg of white,
A forfeit then will be your right ;
If I touch an egg of gold,
It is mine to have and hold.

       As is told in the rhyme, the eggs each have a different value. Green counts six ; red, five ; black, four; and blue, two ; and the gold egg is worth more than all put together, for when a player touches that, she wins the game and a forfeit of. an egg from each of the other players. The white egg is worth less than nothing, since it not only has no value but whoever touches it with the wand must pay a forfeit.
       Each player is in turn blindfolded and makes her trial, keeping account of the value of the eggs she has touched. When the sum of twenty has been reached by anyone the game is ended, without the aid of the gold egg. The position of the eggs are changed after each trial, that the person about to touch them may not know where it is best to place her wand.

Sunday, March 31, 2019

The Mountain Top

The Mountain Top
by Lilian Leveridge

The summer sun lay golden on the 
mountain,
And soft about us blew
The elfin winds, the wild, free winds, that 
morning 
I wandered there with you.

As us and up to higher levels tending
We slowly passed along,
Upon the slippery steeps I did not waver--
Your hand was firm and strong.

We gained the heights. The all-encircling
vastness
Our quickening pulses thrilled.
With all the glory, all the wordless wonder,
Our kindred souls were filled.

Above us and around us stretched the heav-
ens,
And far and far away,
In misty, opalescent shadows melting,
The dim horizon lay.

Up from the town, to mellow music softened,
There rose a murmurous din,
As o'er the waves, wind-kissed and sunbeam-
silvered,
We watched the boats come in.

But longer than the fair and pleasant pic-
ture,
In sunlight round us spread,
Within my heart will live the vibrant music
Of gracious words you said:

"We may not reach the goal of our en-
deavor
Before the sun goes down;
Yet you and I will upward press, and ever
Be worthy of our crown.

"No toil is lost no energy is wasted,
Our striving is not vain,
E'en though we win no shining wreath of lau-
rel,
No proud, far heights attain.

"Thy are not dead, the seeds of hope we
scattered
Along the barren years,
Though yet there springs no blossom of re-
joicing, 
No golden fruit appears.

"Not in the prize, though lovely and allur-
ing, 
Our best reward must be.
Is not the strength that comes alone from
struggle
Enough for you and me?

"Enough to have uplifted by our message
One life for one brief hour;
Out of one heart a weed to have uprooted,
And planted there a flower;

"Enough if we a helping hand have given,
Have strengthened faltering feet,
Have shed about us ever the aroma
Of kindness rare and sweet."

Enough! and yet the distant beacons beckon,
The shining steeps allure.
We long to breath--the impulse is of
Heaven--
Those airs serene and pure;

To stand beside the noble souls who con-
quered,
Who would not be downcast,
Who, after all the heartache and the failures,
Have won success at last.

Some day--who knows?--after the toil and 
patience,
The conflict long and tense,
There yet may come to us life's crowning
glory
Of richest recompense.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Melchizedek

Melchizedek
He was the Priest of the Most High God. - Genesis 14:18

Out of the mist of ages comes, unknown,
His crown'd and mitred mien,
Who evermore, a Priest upon His throne,
Shall live and reign serene:
The King of righteousness His sceptre shews,
While palms and olives near the Prince of Peace
disclose.

And Father Abraham bends and bows before
One greater far than He;
Forth come the Bread and Wine, prefiguring
more
Than feeble sense may see:
The offer'd tithes His sacrifice proclaim,
And His High-priesthood own of everlasting
Name.

Thus Abraham saw Christ's day. The man of
woes
Is Salem's mystic king;
The King of Righteousness whose names disclose
Of Peace the Prince and spring:
The wine-press, for our thirst, who comes to
tread,
And for our hungering souls to break the Living
Bread.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The Ascension of Christ

       He last interview he had with them was in Jerusalem; and he took the little band of believers out of the city, down through the Eastern Gate, down through the valley of Jehosaphat, over the brook Kedron, past that garden where he sweated drops of blood, past Calvary, over the brow of the hill, and went out past Bethany, where Martha and Mary and Lazarus (the resurrected man) lived; and perhaps right there, under a cluster of little olive trees, he met his disciples for the last time to bid them farewell, and gave them his parting message. Now He says: "I go home; I go back to the throne; (He had been out of the grave forty days); now I ascend to God." And while he was blessing them - for you know he came blessing, the first thing he said on that memorable mountain when he preached that wonderful sermon (there were nine blessings right out of his heart, he could not go on until he got them out): "Blessed are the poor;" "Blessed are the peacemakers;" Blessed, blessed; and he recited those wondrous things and blessed them. And while he was blessing them he began to ascend; and he rose higher and higher; and his voice grew fainter and fainter, and at last it died away in the clouds; and the clouds received him out of their sight.
"We love because He first loved us."
1 John 4:19. Free clip art here.
       I can imagine up in the clouds there was a chariot from the throne, to take him back home; his work was finished; he rides like Elijah in that golden chariot, and sweeps away through the heavens to the throne. Look at Him on his way to that world where all honor him, and all love him! And as he went sweeping upon his way home, he did not forget his little church; he could see them, but they could not see him; and I can see Peter and John looking up, in hopes that there will be a break in the clouds so that they may see him once more. And while they stand there, gazing up into heaven, you can see tears trickling down their cheeks, their hearts have almost gone out of their body; and he looks back and sees them; and he says to two of the angels who were conveying him home, "Go back, and tell those men that I will come back again." I don't know but they were the two, Mary saw in the sepulchre; and they said:
       "Ye men of Gallilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Thank God he is coming back! It is only a question of time. And in such a day and hour as we think not, he will rend the heavens and come back. Lift up your hearts, for the time of your redemption draweth near. "We don't worship a dead Savior! He has passed through the heavens, gone up on high, led captivity captive and taken his seat at the right hand of God.
       Paul saw him, and Stephen saw him, standing at the right hand of God. He is there, my friends. Thanks be to God, he is not here. They laid him in Joseph's sepulchre; he is risen and up yonder. D. L. Moody
Of gold, and gems, and jewels rare,
Earth hides a countless store,
If we may trust the sages
Deep read in nature's lore;
And many a pearl lies buried
In ocean's shining caves,
But sacred treasures sleep within
Our pleasant hill of graves.