A Dear Friend

Ho! Ho! Ho!  I turned up my first Church Manual -- I use it at the desk as First Reader  -- and ideas for things to write about came to mind.

This one cost 13 shillings and 6 pence, though there is no date of purchase. On the page before page 1, I have written “My first Manual – a dear friend.”  Wonder when I wrote that?  This Manual is well worn now, and that reminds me of a story: A gentleman inherited his friend’s Church Manual at his passing.  The gentleman, speaking at a meeting on the Manual, compared his own Manual with his friend’s: his looked like it had never been opened; his friend’s was well worn and falling to pieces.  I don’t remember the outcome for the gentleman, but it was a lesson for me to use the Manual – make it a “dear friend.”

One reason for the tatty look of this Manual is that for 40 years I have consulted it each day to read A Rule for Motives and Acts, Daily Prayer, and Alertness to Duty (see pages 40, 41, 42).  These form part of our Daily Duties (found when we look up the word “duty” in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings).


Joyce Voysey