My Georgia Sunday – The Alms House

Sunday, August 31st 2025

GEORGIA FOLK AND FARM LIFE - There’s a small cemetery down the road from our farm that always catches my eye. The sign says Alms House Cemetery, and it’s all that remains of what was once the county “poor farm” here in Carroll County, Georgia. Long before state institutions or modern nursing homes, this was where folks with no one to care for them could find a kind of refuge.

Today, the cemetery sits just a few hundred yards from a state prison. The simple grave markers, tucked behind a vinyl fence, seem like something not quite forgotten—but barely kept up.

Each time I drive past, I can’t help but think of King David’s Psalm where he talks about God giving a home to the forsaken.

We’ve all heard the gospel that reminds us that the poor will always be with us. But as the years go by, I find myself thinking less about material poverty and more about what it means to be poor in spirit. That little graveyard has become a reminder to me that all of us are called to depend fully on God’s mercy, forgiveness, and grace.

I’m also reminded of that parable Jesus told the Pharisees after He joined them for dinner. He didn’t tell them to focus on friends who could repay the favor. Instead, He said: “When you throw a dinner, don’t just invite your wealthy friends who can pay you back with an invite of their own. Instead, open your table to those who can’t return the favor—the poor, the hurting, the ones the world often overlooks. That’s where the real blessing comes, because even though they can’t repay you now, God will remember and reward you in His kingdom.” That must have made for an awkward silence at the dinner table—but it was the truth they needed to hear.

As we look ahead to the upcoming Georgia Folk and Farm Life Gathering & Story Revival, I think about those words. We’ll have the chance to fellowship with the men at New Beginnings in Christ, who are bravely walking the road of recovery. My hope is that our time together will lift all of us up—reminding us that through Him, joy is possible, even in the hardest of seasons.

If you happen to live near a cemetery like the old Alms House, I encourage you to stop and check on it. Those quiet places stand as markers of our faith—reminders that we are all called to be poor in spirit and to place our trust in Him.

~Matt Jolley

Georgia Folk and Farm Life