This day began a couple of hours ago for me. I was wide awake at 4 AM and prayed for a couple of hours. I just poured a hot cup of Door County Creme Coffee and now it is time to write.
Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your court, than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a door keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
As I was praying this morning my mind wandered to some happy memories of years gone by. I was thankful and told God I was more than appreciative for the memories. My mother could really fry chicken and make potato salad. She would make the potato salad on Saturday for the next day. She liked to let it sit for a day. She claimed it would taste better that way. On Sunday after attending church, that big frying pan would come out and she would make beer batter fried chicken. There was always a large salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions with a vinegar and oil dressing, drowning the fresh veggies. We would all gather at the table around 1 PM and dine together. We didn't have a big family. Just the five of us. But we were all there.
As I sit here the memory vault of my mind took me back and I swear I can still smell that chicken frying. Now you might wonder why I am writing about this. It isn't my goal to make you hungry this morning. If you recall the statement above you will see that all this took place after attending church. We would attend a very early church service. Dad would treat us to some doughnuts made by the Fathers Club at church. It was hard to pay attention in church sometimes when you could smell those delicious doughnuts coming out of the fryer A glass of milk and a sugared doughnut was breakfast. Some of my friends from grade school will recall those doughnuts. My job was to pick the onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers for the salad. Dad would cut the lettuce and clean it.
This didn't happen before church, it happened after we attended. We didn't eat fried chicken every Sunday. But I can tell you this. Attending church was not an option unless you were laid flat with an illness.
It's funny how my fondest memories included going to church. We did not have sports tournaments or club sports that took us away from church attendance and family dinners. The day wasn't Sunday if church wasn't attended as a family.
I see more and more people with more and more excuses for skipping out on church attendance. I also see a decline in the value of the family within the world. I think we need to drop the tofu and get back to basics. Fry some chicken, eat some potato salad, but most of all don't forget to worship the Lord together on Sunday. Those baseball and soccer trophies will be tossed away someday, but a day in the house of the Lord will pay dividends much longer.
Marty
❤️🙏🏼❤️
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