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Put a little love in your heart

Since Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us, I thought it would be fun to delve into the origins of the holiday. Where did it come from? Why do we celebrate it? I fully expected to uncover stories featuring chubby, naked little cherubs flying about, launching arrows and sprinkling love dust on unsuspecting humans and Greek gods or something. I was in for a rude awakening when I discovered its actual roots. According to the much-respected History Channel, Valentine’s Day began as a pagan, Roman fertility festival. Who knew? On this day, priests would sacrifice a goat for fertility and ...

Renovation update at Mifflin Co. Library

I’m taking a little break in writing about Library History to write about our changes. Library renovations are big on my mind. Well, on the minds of all of the staff as well as the board. And probably for more people than that. The lower level of the library may be closed but the Children’s Library is still available. It is now on the upper level where non-fiction is. This is temporary and when we are finished, Mifflin County Library will have a new Children’s Library for our patrons and small friends. Children are welcome to come and look for books and, yes, they are ...

Upcoming youth programs at JCL

Join us at our upcoming youth programs. Registration is not required for most programs by recommended, which can be done on our website at www.juniatalibrary.org, by calling (717) 436-6378 or in person at the library. Winter Storytimes (Jan. 22 to Feb. 23) Mondays at 10 a.m.: Preschool group (children ages 3 and over) - Includes stories, songs, rhymes, flannel-board activities, crafts and lots of fun. Fridays at 10 a.m.: Toddler group (children ages 18 months through 2 years) - 20-30 minutes of stories, songs, rhymes, flannel-board activities and movement, followed by 30 minutes ...

In the land of the giants

2 Corinthians 10:1-7 Trusting God to take care of you when things seem beyond your control In the late 1960’s there was a TV show called Land of the Giants. Seven people from earth found their spaceship caught in a time warp of some kind and ended up on a planet where everything was twelve times larger than it was on earth. Each week and each episode they battled giant cats, mean children and military soldiers that tried to bring them to a demise. This series was a little strange to me but it raised some interesting and curious questions. The first question that I have is what ...

New Year’s Eve drops

“Happy New Year!” we declare every Jan. 1. We are all familiar with the “dropping of the ball” in New York City. We have watched many years between pizza, chips, and mini naps! However, I did not realize how many unique drops there are in Pennsylvania. Dillsburg does a “Pickle Drop.” That fits the name. McVeytown does an ice cream cake drop, and of course Mechanicsburg does a “wrench drop” - get it, mechanic and wrench? Lebanon does a “bologna drop” and Lewistown has done a “Hartley Chip drop.” My own town, Burnham, where rail wheels are made, used to do a ...

Suffering is part of God’s plan

Good morning, friends. This morning, I have a dear one on my heart, as she goes for her chemo treatment. It’s done my heart good to see her courage through this time of suffering. She is an inspiration to many of us. Suffering...part of life. We wish it weren’t so. Nobody likes to suffer pain or loss. Though our pain is different in many ways, it’s all the same aching of our hearts for wholeness. We suffer the loss of a job, a marriage, a child, our home, our health, a friendship...all these things leave gaping holes in our hearts. We don’t like it, nor do we welcome suffering. ...