Mayhaws & Chainsaws

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.  Chuck Swindoll

When my siblings and I were kids we did a lot of outdoors stuff.  Why?  Because we only had 3 TV channels and back then when the clock struck midnight the national anthem came on and immediately following that the TV went blank.

During the summer we spent most of our time outdoors.  We had horses, chickens, ducks, dogs and cows.  With that much going on there was always something to do.  We had 20 acres of wooded land behind our barn that we leased for our horses.  There were two memories that always stuck with me about those long ago summers. 

The first was that we had a big fireplace in our den so we always needed firewood.  Every summer my Dad would get out the chainsaw and go into the woods to cut down a tree for firewood or if one had fallen down during the winter we would cut it up and use it for firewood.  So we would go out to the woods with Dad to haul firewood.  It always amazed me how my Dad could cut a notch in the tree and make it fall where he wanted it to.  If it had been up to me to cut the tree it would have landed on the truck that we hauled the wood in. 

The second thing we always did was my Mom would get plastic and we would head out to the back of the property where there were huge mayhaw trees.  If you have never seen a mayhaw tree I will describe it for you.  They are fairly large trees with small trunks.  We would take a sheet of plastic and lay it under the tree and then shake the tree.  Mayhaws resemble tiny apples or cherries.  When they are ripe they turn red.  We would sit out there for hours picking mayhaws and then Mom would take them back to the house to make mayhaw jelly. 

The thing I learned and remembered about those long ago summer days was the time we spent together as a family.  Video games and laptops didn’t exist and no one had ever heard of Dish or cable TV.  We made our own entertainment.  I learned more about life in those moments of time than I ever did living in a large city and my parents taught us about God.  There is no greater legacy a parent can leave their children than to teach them about God through everyday living.               

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for my parents.  They spent many hours with us as children.  They were not perfect parents and we were not perfect children, but they taught us how to live.  I praise You for giving them the wisdom to teach us about You.  Many of the things they taught us carried over into my adulthood.  I praise you for giving me godly parents that understood how important those lessons of childhood were in our growing up years.          

Scripture:  Children and Parents

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:1-4