– Secret Place Insights –
Dear One, if you are familiar with my essays, you know I grew up in a small farming community. Many of the residents, unlike my family, were Dutch, and most likely attended a Reformed or Christian Reformed Church. Of course, there were many other churches; ours was Presbyterian. I was inspired by those of the Reformed denomination, those who’s faith appeared evident by their daily and Lord’s Day practices. Though envy is displeasing to God, I wanted what they had…a strict adherence to Scripture. Such devotion seemed to fill the community atmosphere with reverence.
During my high school years, I was occasionally invited by classmates to stay overnight at one of the Dutch farmer’s homes. There, at the dinner table the evening meal began with prayer and ended with the reading of Scripture. After the last bite of dessert had disappeared, the father of the house would reach for the Bible resting nearby. At that instant, conversation halted, and the Word was opened to the bookmarked page; reading began where the father had left off. When the chapter was read, the meal was over.
Oh, how that grabbed my heart. So, at the age of 16, I decided that I was going to marry a Dutch farmer. He would read, and I would care for our chickens. Well, I never became a farmer’s wife, and I have yet to feed any chickens, neither of which caused me a whiff of regret, but I have regret. Oh yes, the regret of my husband and I neglecting to finished our children’s family dinners with a good helping of spiritual dessert.
How did that happen? How did it happen that my husband, from the Reformed church, and I, never carried out this practice? When I look back, I am dumbfounded. It, of course, does prove that you can raise Christian children without that practice, but oh what we missed…the daily sharing of God’s Word, a deeper familiarity with all God’s incredible teachings, and the interesting conversation which would have inevitably followed.
So, with that regret in mind, in this season of giving, I offer as a gift the idea of closing family meals with the richest of all desserts. For the daily sharing of God’s Word imparts a legacy of eternal value which few, if any, gifts can match.
“Teach them (God’s Words) to your children, talking about them
when you sit at home and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 11:19
Blessings for another week,
Susanne
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