WHOSE TABLE DO YOU SIT AT? 4/29/12

ON OUR recent trip to celebrate with both our families, we were treated to breakfast at my sister Joetta’s home, which was prepared by her daughter Leslie. Swedish pancakes! After a lively discussion of “these are not crepes, these are Swedish pancakes; I felt inclined to write a blog! This happens often, and because this statement blind sided me, I knew I had to investigate. “Is there a difference?” Depends on what part of the world you come from. MY OTHER niece Jill, was there, and I knew she made “crepes!” I kept calling Leslie’s Swedish pancakes; crepes! I saw thin pancakes and my “know it all instinct”said crepes to me. I am willing to call them Swedish pancakes because they were oh so good! Very thin; with Lingolnberry jam spread on them and then rolled up; sprinkled on top with powdered sugar; very exotic. Oh my! OF COURSE I went on the internet and read all about them. Come to find out there are variations all over the world, but they all come down to one thing; they are very thin pancakes! However, no one can make them as much fun as Leslie. She has style; flair and uses the Lingolnberry jam. She has a story, but mostly what she has is her style! What is pictured on the plate and what happens in the mouth makes all the difference in the world, and it tells the tale. You can’t deny how good they look and taste. You can’t deny how personable the breakfast chef is! JIM AND I love our families! Our visits are always special! We hate to leave but always take with us the warmth and smells of the times spent together. God says we are to love one another within the church body but He also says we are to love and honor those within the family. The pastor of my youth, gave Jim and me a small blue book that I have used through the years in lessons taught. Beatitudes for the Family by Leland Foster Woods. I use two of them in this Morning Glory. THE MAIN AIMS! “Happy is the family whose members know what a home is for, and keep the main aims in view. Who give more thought to affection than to the shelter that houses it; and more attention to persons than to the things amid which they live. For a home is shelter for love and a setting for joy and growth, rather than a place to be kept up. It is a hallowed place, to which its member shall turn with a lifting of the heart.” GROWING up in such large families has given Jim and me an edge in family life. We know how to share and to help. We know how to care for and to love. We know the idiosyncracies and the desires of each heart. We laugh together, we cry together. We share in each others pains and joys. A family such as ours, keeps in touch with one another with support and concerns. So sad that the world does not know how family love helps one another to grow and bond in this life. THE CHURCH is taught to love one another; pretty much as a family is to love one another. The bond that holds the church together in love, is Jesus Christ. “O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!” When we put our trust in the Lord, we find that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. In our earthly family our Mothers and Fathers were the glue that oozed out upon the family. When the Mother and Father are gone, which is the case for Jim and me; family becomes the bond that holds us in an embrace that should never break. UNLESS our family is grounded in the Church of our Lord, our embrace becomes fickle. We become insecure with all relationships. We flounder in the world of separation. “The Church, a Larger Family!” Happy is the church that is a larger family, whose members trust one another and share imperishable treasures. Who do not ignore, nor criticize one another, but seek the good together and find it in their midst. They shall know God better because they love one another and in vitality of fellowship, they shall find the depths of truth.” What is pictured at God’s table and what happens when we taste and see, makes all the difference in the world, and it tells the tale. By Jane Ann Crenshaw 4/25/12