Remnants was a word my mother often used. To her, a remnant was a scrap or piece of cloth left over after the rest of the cloth had been used. Any small pieces left over after she made a dress or a shirt was to her, a remnant. It might be very small, if so she would save it to use in making a quilt. There were stacks of these small pieces, almost like yellow sticky memoes, all around her sewing area.
She was astonished, later in life, when she heard women talked about buying remnants from a fabric store to use in their quilts -- that was "cheating" to her. It wasn't really a quilt unless you used the left over scraps from something you had made yourself. How could any serious quilter use "new" scraps!
After she finished her quilts she could point to a colorful design and say, "That's the skirt I made for you when you were in junior high!" Or, "That was left over from the dress I made for Easter that year -- you remember, I wore that beautiful blue hat with it!" (My mother was a great one for wearing hats! The hat she was referring to was a blue "pillbox" hat - the kind we used to call
"Jackie Kennedy" hats.)
She showed me how flexible she was when, in 1986, she presented me with a quilt honoring the 150th birthday of Texas. It was all red, white and blue, with large stars and solid stripes to separate the sections. It was her own design.
We were both so proud of it -- and she admitted, without embarrassment, that she had had to buy the "remnants," or "scraps" from the fabric store to make it for me!
Well, it is not very often that we see fabric stores any more.....and few women wear hats....
Though Art's sister, Phyllis, who is visiting with us now with her husband Bob, and I went shopping this week and we both bought beautifully designed small white hats --with veils -- sort of "mini" hats that we can wear to church. So we are trying to revive the custom in some small way. And I hear that Patsy Parkey wore a large wonderful hat on Easter, but I didn't see it. Ruby wears hats, and sometimes Patrice.
Back to scraps....I have been thinking about remnants lately.
When Elijah moaned to God:
"I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have broken
down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only
one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
God answered:
Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to
Baal...
A remnant. And we are also a remnant.
From the time of Noah, the Bible tells us that the human race has been very sinful, but there has also been a righteous minority that God preserves.
Maybe it was a small group, as in Noah's time, when it was only 8 people. Maybe seven thousand. Many larger today in numbers. But God has not ever allowed His testimony to be completed purged.
The nation of Israel was never, as a whole, faithful to God. Only small families and groups remained true to Him. Isaiah mentions a "righteous remnant' dozens of times. Zephaniah predicted a time when "the remnant of Israel will not do unrighteousness, and speak no lies nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth" (Zephaniah 3:13).
The early Christians saw themselves as a remnant. And the early pilgrims coming to the new world often called themselves a remnant. In fact, the pilgrims on the Mayflower referred to themselves as Noah's family and the Mayflower as the ark.
Early founding fathers, Samuel Adams and others, referred to the righteous remnant God had taken from the old corrupt countries of Europe, rescued them, and brought them into a new world to begin a purer and holier society. Starting from scratch, as Noah did.
But when they used "remnant" it was not in reference to "scraps" and "left overs" -- it was
holy righteous people -- a people of value -- a people treasured by God. Not scraps, but jewels.
Today any small surviving group of people can be called a remnant. I guess that means us, too!
(And I guess women wearing hats are sort of a remnant, too! ...
Although wearing a hat does not make us a 'righteous remnant.')
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