Don't Forget Your Coat, Hat and Gloves!
¡No Olvide Ud. el Abrigo, el Sombrero, y los Guantes!
by
Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Saturday, December 31, 2022
Like this girl, I wore a blue coat when I was in elementary school. [Photographer: Kayleegirl. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
While I was in elementary school, I stayed with some older neighbors after school until my mother came to get me after she left work.
As she and I prepared to leave our neighbor's house, Mother asked me, "Where's your coat?"
That's when I remembered that I had left my blue coat at school. The cold morning had turned into a warm afternoon so that when I left school I had forgotten that I had worn my only coat that morning.
"I guess it's still at school," I admitted.
"You are going to be very cold walking to school tomorrow morning because you don't have another coat," Mother scolded. "Maybe that will teach you to bring your coat home every day so that you will have it to wear the next day."
She was right. That not only taught me to remember to bring home my coat as long as I lived with her but that lesson remained with me even after I married. Years later, when my husband and I were living near Des Moines, Iowa, I commuted 70 miles round trip five days a week to Iowa State University where I was studying for my bachelor's degree.
One of my classes at the university was held in a lecture hall similar to this one, but I never left my coat, hat, gloves or knitted scarf behind. [Photographer: Nikolai Georgiev. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
Despite riding in cars with other students and going in and out of classrooms, large buildings, and the library, I never forgot or lost a coat, hat, glove or fuzzy scarf.
Since then, I have been blessed with abundant warm clothing. The Bible reminds me that there are people that don't have adequate protection in cold weather. Exodus 22:26-27, tells of people that had only one outer garment with which to cover themselves: "26) If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27) because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate." (New International Version)
Those verses remind me that my family and I are blessed to have coats, jackets, hats, gloves, knitted scarves and blankets during the months when we experience cold weather. I am thankful to God for His abundant blessings because I remember a time when I had only one coat.
BIBLE VERSES USED IN THIS POSTING
Exodus 22:26-27 — "26) If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, I will hear, for I am compassionate." (New International Version)
Èxodo 22:26-27 — 26) Si tomares en prenda el vestido de tu prójimo, a la puesta del sol se lo devolverás. 27) Porque solo eso es su cubierta, es su vestido para cubrir su cuerpo. ¿En qué dormirá? Y cuando él clamare a mí, yo le oiré, porque soy misericordio. (Reina-Valera 1960),
We pray you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year wherever you are! [Photographer: Kalhh. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
