Now it came to pass that as the time of vacation drew near, a certain member of the church bethought him of cool streams where fish were abundant, and his children thought of sandy beaches by the sea, and his wife thought of the mountains.
And this church member lifted up his eyes unto the hills and spoke, saying, “Lo, the hot days come and even now are at hand. My work lieth heavy upon me. Come, let us depart to the North Country, where fishes do bite and cool winds bring refreshment and pleasant scenes await.”
“Thou speakest wisely,” said his wife. “Yet three, nay even four things we must do ere we go.”
“Three things I can think of, but not a fourth,” said her husband; “that we ask our neighbor to minister to our flowers and mail, our dog be boarded, and our porch light timer set; but no other thing cometh to mind.”
“The fourth is like unto the other three, but greater than them all,” said his spouse. “Even this: that thou dig into thy purse and pay the church pledge in order that the Lord’s work be not hindered, the good name of the congregation preserved, and the hearts of the treasurer and finance committee be made glad, and that it may be well with thee. For verily I say unto thee: thou hast more money now than thou shalt have when thou wilt return.”
The husband replied, “Verily, thou art noble and wise among women.”
“Among all people,” she corrected.
And he did pay his pledge for the summer; he seemed to enjoy his vacation all the more, and the church treasurer and its finance committee rejoiced exceedingly, saying, “Of a truth, there are those who care for the good of the church. Praise the Lord!” And it was so.
Adapted slightly from GPPC’s newsletter Progress, June, 1983
Attributed to First Presbyterian Church, Lenoir, NC
Progress’s editor at that time was Ed Young, a retired writer for the Associated Press. Articles published during his tenure were crisp and colorful. Ed was an early adopter of computer technology, producing the church newsletter on a Macintosh SE when many folks were still using typewriters. Thanks to Fran Davis for finding this feature in our archives based on a vague description of the contents and a broad guess at the date.
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