Freckles

FRECKLES

Catherine Marshall wrote a book about a school-teacher named Christy who did her best to bring a little education to the foot-hills of the Smokies. In her writings Catherine Marshall details some things that are greatly hilarious and some of the other tales that she writes of are very sad.

One tale she writes of is about Ruby Mae of Cutter Gap. Someone had told Ruby Mae that if she would put lemon juice on her face that it would remove the freckles. If you are looking for beauty secrets, Cutter Gap is probably not the place to be looking. If you want to know about coon dogs, corn mashings for corn whiskey, or if you want to learn about fightin’ then Cutter Gap might be the place to go. However, beauty secrets is probably not their forte’.

Ruby Mae’s problem was that she did not have any lemons. It would take a lot of lemons because Ruby Mae’s face was covered with freckles that matched her bright red hair. She thought that if she would get rid of the freckles then it would drastically change her life. So because Ruby Mae did not have lemons, she decided that oranges would work just as well.

When she got home, she cut the oranges in half and began to furiously rub her face. Finally, in utter disappointment she quit. She discovered that the freckles were there to stay.

When she finally gave in, she dejectedly said to her school-teacher and friend, “Miss Christy, they won’t come off” Miss Christy replied, “You know Ruby Mae, I never really noticed your freckles. I was always too busy looking at your beautiful eyes.” Ruby Mae quickly looked back into the mirror and a huge smile stretched across her face (Adapted from Christy by Catherine Marshall & Insight for Living, unknown broadcast date).

-That is the problem with freckles, we can become so focused on the perceived problem that we lose sight of the beauty of the journey. To focus on freckles will be to get so discouraged with life that much of it is spent fretting over freckles.