Skills That Last a Lifetime

Here’s another one of my “back-in-the-day” posts. Please forgive my musings but I roll with what I believe are God’s bright ideas. This one came from my post yesterday when I mentioned the recipes I learned in Home Ec. A rush of memories flooded my mind. Those of us of a certain age (ahem) may remember a time period (or at least hearing about a time period) when high-school girls took home economics class, and high-school boys took shop. Men were going to grow up and work on their own cars or home repairs, while women would become homemakers and take care of their families. I must say that shop for my “high school” boyfriend and home ec for me served us well the rest of our married life.

I learned some great cooking techniques, recipes, table place-setting, measurements, basics of sewing, and washing and ironing techniques in those classes. Thankfully, for my young husband, I had a few “tools in my toolbox” that gave him some decent meals and awarded me the title of “World’s Best Cook” (love AND a hungry man may be blind). I could sew buttons on, hem slacks, take in some shirts, set a table with putting the silverware where it belonged and could wash clothes without turning everything pink. And, thankfully, for me, my young husband learned so many “tricks of the trade” that he became known as “Mr. Fix-it” man. He could repair any and everything.

If my granddaughter, Alexia, had been afforded the opportunity to have Home Ec classes, I don’t think she would have taken them. She’s one of those “I’m going to marry a man that can cook!” But, I’m proud to say, “She loves to sew!” She finds inexpensive, second hand clothes and reworks them into some adorable outfits.” I bought her first sewing machine. I stopped sewing until my Alexia came along, and I picked up where I left off. I carefully made the christening gown pictured here and it represents the love I had and have for her when I see it displayed in their home. Most importantly, it represents the day that her Mom and Dad presented her to God and her church family, like Jesus was presented to God in the temple by His Mom and Dad.

Back to home ec and shop – those classes were a common part of our high school curriculum. Isn’t the whole purpose of school to provide children with life skills and knowledge that will benefit them….long term? I don’t know that I have used what I learned in chemistry, geometry and geography that much – but I sure appreciate what I learned in home economics and vocation office education (VOE). VOE was the in-school office training – filing, typing, shorthand, and general office skills – that opened the door for my first clerical job during my Senior year. I still use those skills today – even as I type this blog, do my monthly bookkeeping, filing and other administrative skills. Real life skills and knowledge. I’m truly grateful for what I learned in those classes. They have served me well.

And, as skillful as I became in doing life as a wife and mother in those early years, nothing prepared me for life more than my attentiveness to what I learned from God’s Word and women and men of faith. That training has equipped me for untold surprises, ups and downs of life, overcoming tremendous challenges and living in peace in the midst of some very tumultuous storms. I learned from faith-filled role models how to pray for my sick babies and stand on God’s promises for their lives and future. I became well-acquainted with being an encourager to my husband when he was down and even found the self-confidence to pray out loud for him, my babies and others. I learned those skills that still give me the bold courage to speak up and out for God as His devoted follower. But mostly, I am still in life skills training and daily I stay close to our Master Instructor Who seems to teach me something new each day about trusting, obeying, living in peace and joy, and most of all LOVE — those skills that last a lifetime.