She was Miss Isabella Hume, and she lived in the Post Office come Sweet Shop, in a village called Longformacus, in Berwickshire. She loved her village with its rolling hills and green fields, and enjoyed walking in such beauty, often wondering if she could increase it’s beauty.
One day, perhaps seventy or eighty years ago, she had a thought, and she started to put it into operation. She told all the children who came to buy sweets to come on Saturday for a little job she had for them to do; and on that Saturday her shop was crowded with the village children.
To each child she handed a bag full of snowdrop bulbs, and smilingly she told them how to plant them, and sent them out to plant them in every place they could find where they could grow.
The children planted them all over the village. Up to the door of the church, around the Manse, along the banks of the river, and along the sides of the road. When all the bulbs were planted the children returned to tell where they were, and received another bag.. With sweets in.
As winter came to it’s end, Miss Hume waited and watched, and sure enough up came the snowdrops, and amazingly they came up every year after. What a sight ! They fill the village every year, after all these years, Long after Miss Hume has been laid to rest.
What this humble lady did so long ago can still be seen heralding the Spring, and adding to the beauty of the village.
What will be left behind by me that will bless other people? Will anyone remember you for something that you did ? Our loving influence on children ? Some blessing to our friends ? Will there be someone in heaven because you spoke to them ? Or Prayed ? Will somebody be loving and kind, because they remember your love and kindness ?
I wonder whether you will leave behind something that will live on after you ! Not a weather-worn grave stone with a few dates, What can we do today that will be a future blessing to delight others ?
Gerald Gossage. (seeking to serve!)