Since September 7, 1960, Grandma Moses Day has been celebrated the birthday of Anna Mary Robertson Moses, who began a career in the arts when she started painting when she was in her seventies. Arthritis kept her from her love of embroidering, so she began this new career and was very successful. Her exhibitions were so popular during the 1950’s that they broke attendance records all over the world. A 1943 painting sold in 2006 for $1.2 million, and her painting entitled Fourth of July was donated by its buyer to the White House, where it remains hanging today.
“Words from Above” in the Bible tell us about a man named Caleb, who was among twelve men sent into the Promised Land to spy out the land before the people of Israel moved into it. He and Joshua brought back a very favorable report about the land, but the other ten brought back a bad report, and discouraged the people from moving into it. The people of Israel would need to drive out the people already living there, and the ten men believed it would not be possible.
Caleb was forty years old when they were sent to spy out the land, and forty-five years later, at the age of eighty-five, he was ready to claim the portion of the land promised to him by Moses. Caleb declared that he was just as strong as he had been at the age of forty, and he was ready to go to war to claim his inheritance. He said in Joshua 14:12, “give me this mountain” and he said this even though there were giants in the mountain that he would have to drive out before he could settle there. Caleb did, in fact, drive out the giants and settled on the mountain like he intended. His age did not prevent him from reaching his goal.
Moses was also a man who accomplished much in his old age, called by God at the age of 80 to lead the people of Israel from Egypt to the Land of Promise. He spent the rest of his life carrying out this assignment, and died at the age of 125. Deuteronomy 34:7 tells us that at the time of his death, his vision and his physical strength had not diminished at all since the time that he reached adulthood.
Caleb and Moses are perfect examples of what the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 40:31 when he wrote, “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.”
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
