Randering Through Proverbs : Refrigerator Smorgasbord (Day 15)

I sat down to post this last night, only to find out our internet server was down.  *sigh*   Thankfully, it was going to be a short post anyhow!

First, two verses that encouraged me in the area of how I speak to those around me:

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger...The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit." (v. 1 & 4)

Those are good words!  Let us speak gentle words that bring healing and life.  The world seems to do a good enough job on its own stirring up anger and crushing spirits.  Lets do our best to make sure we are doing it in our homes.

Second, a random verse that caught my eye:

"Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred." (v.17)

If there is one thing that I have learned over the years as a mom, it is that my kids don't expect me to be a gourmet cook (thank goodness!)  They would be happy if I served them the 3 basic foods groups every night:  pizza, grilled cheese and macaroni & cheese.  Now rest assured, I do not do that - I try to serve a variety of things and each meal usually includes a vegetable (which they are required to eat.)  But the point is, my kids don't care about what I feed them as much as they care about me being there to eat it with them.

When Colin was smaller, before school and basketball and a bazillion friends, one of this favorite things to do was to have "tea party picnics".  (Yes, my little boy liked to have tea parties.)  We would get out my grandma's tea cups and fill the tea pot with lemonade, or kool-aid or, sometimes, actually tea.  We'd use my fancy dessert plates and set up our picnic in the middle of the living room.

But the best part was always the menu: a literal refrigerator smorgasbord.  Since these events were always impromptu, our picnic would be made up of whatever I could dig out of the refrigerator and arranged prettily on a plate.   Sometimes it was carrots sticks, slices of sandwich cheese, a handful of nearly stale crackers, 7 leftover "Little Smokies", a PB&J cut up into triangles (crusts removed) and some M&M's from my hidden stash in the back of the cupboard.

I get teary-eyed just thinking about it... *sniff*

Why?  Because I forgot to tell you what else was always served at that table:  Love.

No matter what was on our plates, Colin and I were spending time together and talking about important things like : "Who was better (Barney or Calloui)?", "Why he needed a cat...now.", "Why still talking to Isaac an hour after bedtime is not a good idea.", and "How many vegetables does someone have to eat to get as tall as Christopher?"

*giggle*

Not earth-shattering conversation but, yet, they were life-changing moments.

And how I miss them...


I've had the unfortunate opportunity to sit at a table that was all decked out for a feast - only to have the whole experience ruined by tension that was so thick that you could cut it with that proverbial knife.

And, yep, I'd rather have a smorgasbord tea party any day...

Be blessed...


(Oh, and in case you missed it, in verse 19 we get the pleasure of saying "sluggard" again.  Who knew how many times it was in there!)