If only we had more Aunt Charlottes in the world today!
Let me explain, in a rather roundabout way.
I often regret that children today, blessed with great potential, are being deprived of the precious truths contained in many of the pages of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is the source of all our right thinking and right doing, as well as the guide to religious life, a blueprint for living, as it were.
That same Bible contains the entire history of one of the greatest races in the world, one that produced a Blessed Saviour two thousand years ago. It tells of great men and women from the time they were born to the time that they left an everlasting imprint for Christians to follow.
Of course, the Bible was written and interpreted in beautiful language for grown-ups to read over the centuries, but in many instances it is almost impossible for children to understand. This is where dear souls like Aunt Charlottes of my memory used to come into the picture. She knew all the stories in the Bible by heart and every Sunday she told some of them to her small and impressionable nieces and nephews.
Sometimes Charlotte would tell a story after breakfast, one after dinner and another after supper, and after she finished each story she would ask the children questions to see if they had listened and understood what she had told them. And you could be sure that they remembered everything because their Auntie had been telling stories for so long that she knew the most interesting way to explain difficult Biblical text to them and to hold their attention while doing it.
Not done yet, after the children had answered her questions and given a chance to express natural thoughts that were on their minds, Aunt Charlotte would follow up by giving them a page of pictures and words, which she called "Bible symbols", to help reinforce all the stories she had related.
In typically concluding one of her story sessions, Aunt Charlotte was heard to say: "And so it was that our blessed Lord Jesus once again ascended up to His home in heaven, after He had lived and died, so that we might be saved."
Prompting this reply from little Sara who had been attentively sitting on her lap, clinging to every word: "...and Jesus is there in Heaven now, watching over us and laying our prayers before His Father in heaven, and getting ready our home there for each of us?"
"Right, my darling," assured Aunt Charlotte. "Jesus said, 'I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also,' and He promised to come again and receive all those who love Him and make them His brothers and sisters in heaven."
"I'm so sorry that Jesus had to go away," added Sara. "Weren't the disciples very lonesome, Auntie?"
"Yes, they were very lonely; but Jesus will not leave His followers unhappy for very long...And next Sunday I will tell you what He sent to make them glad and joyous," Aunt Charlotte replied with a smile and a hug for each little one on her ample lap.
Scenes like that just do not happen anymore. That's what concerns me. Too bad!
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