{"id":3337,"date":"2020-09-11T09:51:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=3337"},"modified":"2020-09-20T11:32:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-20T16:32:20","slug":"durham-womens-christmas-meeting-in-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=3337","title":{"rendered":"Durham Women’s Christmas Meeting in 1988"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Twila Greene, August 2, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a lonely season and I hunger for my friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I find my thoughts reverting to the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For last night I took a journey, that gave my soul delight,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walked across an old familiar path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elated, I surveyed the scene that was in front of me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all my Friends were gathered there in peaceful harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the women of the group were gathered in the Meeting,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together for our fellowship, with pleasure in our greeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bee was sitting by the bookcase, with Margaret in the loop,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sue Wood suggested one to use for our discussion group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had read it and it touched her heart,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would benefit all if we read it from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lida, Eileen and Sylvia were putting out the dishes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With lots of festive goodies that all looked so delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy, Mary and Charlotte Ann were in the kitchen with the food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something from the oven was smelling mighty good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dotty, Susan and Norma were in the Nursery Extension,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading to some little ones too numerous to mention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the winter of \u201988 with lots of little tots,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To love and teach and sing to them the joyous Meeting thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nancy, Linda and Charlotte were decorating the tree,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With homemade socks and mittens for those who were in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarabel was trying to peacefully end a squabble<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syretha and Tess vied for the privilege to hang the treetop bauble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitsie and Muriel were leading in devotions,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving us things to ponder and asking for our notions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth and Mabel were engaging in a chat,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remembering all the old times and discussing this and that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy Henton and Ruth Graham and also Del Weed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were inviting Helen Clarkson to join them for the feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mildred had come early to make coffee and fruit punch,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such were the events that made our Christmas lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone was gathered in contentment and accord,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunch was ready and everyone paused to thank the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy, from the Henton House, insisted on saying grace,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a happy smile was seen to come on to Gracie\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After gifts were open and we all had had our fill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sukie had a gift for us which was our closing thrill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had brought her harp with her, we all joined voice in song<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure the angels joined with us in singing right along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a pleasant time I spent with all the women there,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I woke up then refreshed and joyous music filled the \u2018air,\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a joy and gift I found in reliving that delight,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All was so realistic as I pondered on that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was such a pleasure, a joy that was all mine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a glorious meeting, such a glimpse of Love divine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I wouldn\u2019t give if I could visit just once more,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And share that joy of entering through that meeting door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sure do miss those days and all the women that were once involved. Wish we lived closer, so I could continue in worship and get to know the newer members. When this pandemic is over I hope to visit. Durham is my heart\u2019s home. Love to all, Twila<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Twila Greene, August 2, 2020 It\u2019s been a lonely season and I hunger for my friends, And I find my thoughts reverting to the past. For last night I took a journey, that gave my soul delight, As I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-womans-society"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9rLvf-RP","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3337\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}