On Cracker Crumbs and Family Memories...

Pastors note: This is a post Ramona submitted a couple of months ago that we thought might serve ladies looking ahead to Superbowl Sunday

It was football night for the Doyle men (I say men because two of my sons are already 6’4” and to call them anything else would be absurd). Nachos, salsa, and sodas are the “stuff” of those male bonding adventures. Try as we might, we gals (my two daughters and I) will never fully understand the attraction…a bunch of unruly guys butting heads, rolling in mud, and braving the freezing cold to kick a lop-sided ball over a fence. Sometimes we join them in half-hearted attempt to show support, but all in all, we just don’t get it. On this particular evening, only one thing appealed to the three of us—chick flick! Instant enthusiasm for the idea, even for my seven year old (who thinks herself an expert on the finer points of young womanhood).

Now this happened to be our weekly “snack night”. That means instead of an evening meal, we clear out the fridge and set out snacks family room. This is a HUGE treat for our kids, who must usually follow stricter guidelines about what they eat and where they may eat it during the rest of the week. Following suit, my youngest daughter loaded up her plate with crackers and raced up the stairs to my bedroom, flopped on my bed, and began to arrange the pillows into a comfy spot for her older sister and me. Entering my room, I heard myself detailing a long list of constraints for having food in Mom’s room… “Don’t this…don’t that…and, oh yes, watch those cracker crumbs—they’re not very comfortable to sleep on…” You get the idea. To obey me at that point she would have had to stand in the corner of the room in a HAZMAT suit.

Ouch! I did it again. I love order. But as the Lord has so graciously tried to teach me in the past…my organizational gifts bear good fruit only to the extent I use them to serve my husband and the Lord’s purposes for my family. They are tools to use for His glory, not an end in themselves. How was I serving my daughter in that moment? What would she remember about this evening—that Mom is a good housekeeper? Did I want that to be her take home point for that precious time the Lord had made available to us? I thank the Lord for grace in the moment. We curled up on the bed…cracker crumbs and all. It took us only a moment to clean up the cracker crumbs and my daughter hugged me and thanked me for the special girls’ night in Mommy’s room.

Now if I happen to hear a crunch in the middle of the night, I have a great memory to attach to it.