Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
THE CHRONICLE
May 30, 2004
Vol. 49, No. 22
Putting First Things First
In the years before World War II, affluent Norfolk, Virginia families
would shut down their homes and move to summer places on the oceanfront
in Virginia Beach. Fathers who worked in downtown Norfolk could board
a rickety trolley at the end of each day and ride the fourteen miles
to join their wives and children. This life was not always as glitzy
as it sounds,
particularly during the Depression years. One friend who spent her childhood
summers this way gives a vivid description of how she feared the chickens
and rooster that the family kept behind the chimney in a corner of their
screened porch. Despite such inconveniences, my friend remembers these
summers as the times that really defined her family and their relationships.
Dinner with cousins and friends was often a long, slow affair, with even
the children
lingering past sunset. Her father was far more available and attentive
than
at other times. She remembers how she loved falling asleep to the sounds
of
her parents and their friends talking while they played cards on the
porch by
candlelight.
Not
many of us can spend the summer in an old family retreat. Some
of us—
including retired folks, they remind me—will not even get vacations.
Some of us live in households quite different from those of an earlier
generation too, and we may not have access to blood-relatives. Many of
us have jobs that do not really become less demanding in the summer.
Nonetheless, during these months when the days last longer, any opportunity
to change our
daily routine bears potential blessings.
How
would we use our time if it were possible to really put first things
first? A changed summer schedule may tell us. Might we read more?
Spend more time cooking and talking with loved ones, and less time
watching TV? Pray more consistently? Finally begin to read the
Bible in some methodical way? Spend more time playing the endless
games of “Chutes & Ladders” the
child next door demands? Worship more—or less? Spend less time
in the car?
Like
the Jewish Sabbath, intended not just to contrast with but also
to influence what goes on during the rest of the week, our summers
can exert a powerful influence. Make good and careful choices about
the things you (and your children) invest in this summer. You may
learn to live more fully as the person God calls you to be.
~Andrew
MacBeth
(Return
to Top)
|