Seralynn Lewis's Blog, page 4

The Biltmore

Christmas 2020 is like no other we’ve ever encountered. There’s an overarching sadness and we all know why. Rather than lamenting on what we can and cannot do, I choose to think about the reason for the season and past Christmases where happiness abounded. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, we’ll take a trip to a Christmas past and relive a fond memory.

Every year, my husband and I travel to Northeast Ohio where my entire family gathers for Christmas and we return to North Carolina before New Year’s.  My ...

Happy Thanksgiving?

For almost four hundred years Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving. This year will go down in history as different from all other Thanksgivings in the past century. It is still the fourth Thursday of November as Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared it to be in 1941. We’ll still have Turkey with all the trimmings, pumpkin pie, and the Macy’s Day Parade. But it will be different. Different in a way few of us have seen in our lifetimes.

In 1620, the Pilgrims proclaimed the Mayflower Compact, which ...

Love your neighbors…

But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

Jonah 1:4

Let’s look at the background for this book of the Bible.  Small children know the story of Jonah and the whale, and that’s what this book is about, that childhood Bible story.  However, there’s more to the story than our childhood memories.

God spoke to Jonah in a unique way.  He wanted Jonah to do two things:  go to Ninevah, a large pagan city of that t...

Pride comes before…

The pride of your heart has deceived you,

You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,

Whose habitation is high;

You who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

Obadiah 1:3

Let’s look at Obadiah’s background. There are thirteen Obadiah’s mentioned in the Bible and this prophet, also a minor prophet could have been any of them. From an officer to a teacher of the law, to an overseer of the temple repairs to a priest in the time of Nehemiah. He could have been any of them. The Bible...

Our country today…

And he said:

“The  Lord  roars from Zion,

And utters His voice from Jerusalem;

The pastures of the shepherds mourn,

And the top of Carmel withers.”

Amos 1:2

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Let’s look at some background information. Amos is a lesser known book of the Bible and the man, Amos, is one of the minor prophets of the Bible. His name means “burden” or “burden bearer” and he was a man of burden as he delivered prophecies of judgment on the nations surrounding Israel and Israel itself. He lived about ten miles from Jerusa...

July 4th

Are we celebrating the birth of a nation or the death of society? It’s hard to tell the difference this year. 

America celebrates its 244th birthday today.  The fourth of July.  The day the Declaration of Independence was signed by America’s forefathers.  Thinking back on my childhood, Independence Day meant picnics and barbecues, fun and fireworks, and spending time with friends and family.  Articles and television broadcasts covered the valiant struggle to achieve Independence.  But as a child...

Mother’s Day 2020

Today is Mother’s Day 2020.  It’s a happy, yet sad day.  Many of us cannot give our mothers a hug and a kiss and a pot of flowers or a box of candy because she is in a heavenly place or lives across the country. But those whose mothers live nearby may not have the ability to visit their mother because of COVID-19.  It’s a poignant reminder of what we have lost. While this pandemic has taken its toll on society, we, as a people, can use alternate methods to honor our mothers.

When I checked Face...

Nostalgic Look at the Past…

In a little over a week, My husband and I will travel to my hometown for Christmas with my extended family.  This post is not about Christmas, it’s about childhood memories.  But not memories of Christmas, memories of summers spent on the grassy banks of Yellow Creek.

Our little village had a population of about 3,000 people in the 1960s and 1970s and we had no permanent library.  From my recollection, the temporary library was housed on the second floor of the Fire Station.  Then it moved to th...

Thanksgiving Memories

A writer friend of mine suggested we share memories of Christmas but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I’d like to share my Thanksgiving memories with you.

As a first-generation American-Italian, we celebrated Christmas and Easter like many other Italian families. But for Thanksgiving, the day was strictly an American holiday.

We had the usual gigantic tom turkey, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, and the dreaded jellied cranberry sauce which I couldn’t stand. (I now make i...

Kings & Kingdoms

Who is there among you of all his people?  His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD, God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:3 NKJV

[image error]Let’s look at the context of this verse. After Israel had three waves of their people exiled to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Persia held the Jews in captivity for seventy years. In the first two verses of Ezra chapter one, God gave the King of Persia, Cyrus, who followed Neb...