Homespun Devotion: Idioms, Spiritually Speaking

By Linda Smock

While growing up in the south in the mid-1900s, Linda Smock learned many phrases that were used to pass on wisdom. These colloquial sayings sometimes had roots in biblical principles, while others came from men such as Benjamin Franklin.

Smock, a sinner saved by grace who desires to be a better disciple of Jesus, shares a collection of idioms used in daily conversations intended to help believers develop a closer relationship with God, to sense His guidance, and to see how he uses everyday events to help all of us grow in our walk with Him. Combined with biblical stories and principles that serve as guidance for living, Smock enhances the idioms with personal stories and provides examples from life on the farm as a child. Included are prayers created specifically to match each idiom.

Homespun Devotion is a compilation of devotional idioms accompanied by scripture, prayers, and personal stories shared to help Christians live a better life while growing closer to God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664278820

Linda Smock

Linda Gainey Smock grew up on a small farm in the panhandle of Florida. At the feet of her parents, other family members, teachers, and church leaders, she learned to apply the idioms used in daily conversation to her life and to apply Biblical teachings to her choices. Linda attended Florida State University and the University of South Florida and has taken classes through several other colleges. She continues to take on-line classes, with Bible Study Fellowship classes among her favorites. Other current classwork includes horticulture, gardening, and her special interest of trees, especially pines. Linda spent thirty-two years in public education and twelve years in Christian education, all in the area of St. Petersburg, Florida. She has taught Sunday school classes since she was fourteen. During the last fifty years, she has taught classes for all ages except infants. She still enjoys teaching and speaking when her health permits it. Linda loves the great outdoors, is a Master Gardener, and a want-to-be-birdwatcher. She enjoys butterflies and butterfly gardening. She also enjoys her extended family and her church family. Although married for twenty years, she does not have children and so has enjoyed spoiling her brother’s grandchildren.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-7881-3 (sc)

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022917388

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/31/2022

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News

Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright

© 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

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Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by

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Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible:

Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian

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Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry

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Scripture quotations marked TPT are from The Passion Translation®.

Copyright © 2017, 2018 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by

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by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois

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Scriptures taken from the Common English Bible® (CEB). Copyright ©

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Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright ©

2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.

Scripture taken from the Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by

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Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962,

1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used with permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living

Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale

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Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture taken from the World English Bible.

Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: EASY-TO-READ VERSION

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Scripture taken from the Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible.

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS):

The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright

© 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’

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The only person that I need to be better than is the person I was yesterday.

—Jenny Lawson, Broken (in the best possible way)

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

A Bird in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush

No Dog in That Fight

A Dog Chasing a Fox

Looking for a Needle in a Haystack

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

A Watched Pot Never Boils

Add a Little Water to the Soup

Adding Fuel to the Fire

Don’t Air Your Dirty Laundry

As Handy as a Pocket on a Shirt

Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals

Bless Your Heart

Barking up the Wrong Tree

Beggars Can’t Be Choosers

Cut from Same Cloth

By Hook or by Crook

By the Skin of His Teeth

Cast a Wide Net

Don’t Count Your Chickens before they Hatch

Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

Early to Bed, Early to Rise, Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise

Get Your Ducks in a Row

Stuffing Ten Pounds of Potatoes in a Five-Pound Bag

Footloose and Fancy Free

A Lick and a Promise

He Squealed like a Stuck Pig

Had to Eat Humble Pie

You Can’t Hoot with the Owls and then Soar with the Eagles

Keep a Civil Tongue in Your Head

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

If the Shoe Fits, Wear It

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

Kill ’Em with Kindness

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Messy as a Soup Sandwich

Multiply like Rabbits

No Nail to Hang His Hat On

No News Is Good News

Opened a Can of Worms

Other Fish to Fry

Pay Peanuts, Get Monkeys

Practice Makes Perfect

Pretty Is as Pretty Does

Running around like a Chicken with Its Head Cut Off

Stubborn as a Mule

Take My Marbles and Go Home

The Devil Is in the Details

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

Up the Creek without a Paddle

Wake up and Smell the Coffee

Was the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

When It Rains, It Pours

Wish I Could Have Been a Fly on the Wall …

Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

You Got the Dress and Shoes but Didn’t Make It to the Party

You Reap What You Sow

May God Bless Your Heart

Acknowledgments

My parents transferred to heaven many years ago, but they left part of themselves in me with the idioms they taught me and the Christian principles they practiced. Without them, these thoughts would not have developed and guided my life.

Thanks also to my brother, Whit Gainey, and his wife, Carol, for their guidance in my life, for their patience as I have grown and developed, and for putting up with my idiosyncrasies. I have learned much from them over the years. Their children and grandchildren are incredibly special to me as well. I love each of you.

I cannot name each of the ministers and teachers who have helped me over the years without missing some, but I do appreciate their help. I’d especially like to recognize Jim Shannon, Joel Singleton, and George Welty for their help in these last few years. You each have taught me much and helped me love God’s word even more.

Several of my friends and fellow Christians have helped me with proofing and editing. I would be remiss to not say a huge thank you to Barb Admire, Sherry Chapman, Dolores Hayman, Sara Johnson, Sandy Peeples, and Kym Samek. Their input has been invaluable.

There are many, many others who have helped me over the years—fellow teachers, neighbors, principals, even strangers. I recall a time I was mourning the death of a friend, and a Catholic priest seated next to me on a flight was able to help me see things from a fresh perspective. I never knew his name, but he was a blessing.

May these words bless all these and other people—including you.

Introduction

Growing up in the south in the mid-1900s, many phrases were used to pass on wisdom. These colloquial sayings sometimes had roots in biblical principles, while others came from men, such as Benjamin Franklin in The Farmer’s Almanac. The origins of many are vague, although we may be able to guess some of them. For example, Penny-wise and pound-foolish sounds a lot like it has English roots.

Some have obvious origins, from practices the pilgrims and early Americans used in their daily lives. I think of Bled like a stuck pig and remember fall and wintertime preparation of the pigs for the smokehouse and freezer. Dad would hang the pig up face down by its hind feet and then stab the neck.

He ain’t got no pot to pee in often referred to someone who was homeless or at least so poor he could not afford a slop jar, kept under the bed at night for convenience in relieving oneself of urine.

Best thing since sliced bread was a little later in development, after bakers started slicing bread before it was sold.

Most of these phrases are truly bits of wisdom, but sometimes they are not so true. Don’t air your dirty laundry may not have been the best advice, since keeping family secrets was certainly not done in the Bible, nor do psychologists recommend it today.

I’ve found myself using these phrases over the years, passing them on