PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 189: WE LOVE OUR KITCHENS, PT 3
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 187: We Love Our Kitchens – Part 3
Erin Harrison and I share our third session about the GLORY OF THE KITCHEN. Did I say "glory"? Yes. It certainly can become glory when we get the right attitude and vision! We also talk about how important it is to have a meal ready for our husbands when they come home from work.
What does a husband want more than anything? A WARM WELCOME HOME, A WARM MEAL ON THE TABLE, and A WARM BED! This means more than an electric blanket!!! We get down to the nitty gritty of this most important point. Our marriages hinge upon it! You'll love it!
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Here we are again for our third session, WE LOVE KIOTCHENS! I do hope you’re already loving your kitchen by now and that it’s your favorite place to be. Not only do we love kitchens, but we love cooking.
Did you know that Jesus loved cooking too? He sees it as very important. I love reading that passage in John 21. Jesus had died and He had risen from the dead. But the disciples were forlorn. They didn’t know what was going to happen. Everything was finished.
They were down at Lake Galilee, and one of them says, “I’m going fishing.” So, the others said, “OK, we’ll go, too.” They went out, and they were fishing all night. They didn’t catch a thing. Then, they heard this voice on the shore of Galilee, saying, “Hey, guys! You caught any fish?”
“No!” they replied. Then He said, “Well, put your nets down on the right side, and you’ll catch fish!” They did. Their nets were nearly breaking, and they caught 153 fish! Then John said, “It must be the Lord!” They were coming into shore, and they were tired and exhausted.
But then, when they got to shore, they saw this little fire of coals on the shore. On this fire, there were some fish cooking, and some bread. Jesus was there, and He said to His disciples, “Come! Come and dine!” And He invited them to breakfast.
JESUS COOKED BREAKFAST
A breakfast, ladies, that He had cooked! Now this is Jesus, the One Who had just risen from the dead. The One Who is King of Kings and Lords of Lords, the One Who had just conquered death and risen again! And what is He doing?
Ladies, He’s cooking! He’s cooking breakfast. Sometimes you think that it’s too mundane for you. “Oh, no, I’ve got to go and cook another meal.” Dear ladies, Jesus knew the power of cooking! In His risen form, He cooked for His disciples. He served them and served them breakfast.
Now we know the story of after that breakfast. Well, of course, while they were having breakfast, we don’t know what happened, but I’m sure they enjoyed the most wonderful, wonderful fellowship together. Meals are places for fellowship. Tables are places to fellowship. Our meals together are meant to be face-to-face, table fellowship.
But after the meal, Jesus took Peter aside, and said to him, “Peter, lovest thou me?” And we know how Peter said, “Yes, of course I do, Lord!” “Feed my sheep.”
Then He asked him again and Jesus came back with the words, “Feed my lambs.”
Then again, after He talked to him, He said again, “Feed my sheep.”
You see, Jesus had a particular word that He wanted to minister into Peter’s life. But Jesus knew the power of food, the power of cooking. He didn’t go down to the Galilee and say, “Hey, Pete! Got a word for you!” No, he first cooked him a meal.
After his belly was full, and he was satisfied, and good fellowship, and oxytocin was flowing, he was in a place where He was ready to receive. And Jesus spoke those words into him.
You see, lovely ladies, this is the power of a meal. We’re not only cooking a meal just to feed hungry bodies. No, it is far more than that. The meal makes the place where we can gather our family together, where we can talk, fellowship, discuss, and feed the soul. Then, of course, we can open the Word and speak God’s Word into their spirit and feed the spirit.
But it’s a meal that paves the way. If we don’t prepare the meal, we don’t have all those blessings that come with the meal. And so, we learn from how, even Jesus, the One risen from the dead, was willing to do the humble job of cooking. He didn’t see it as humble. He saw it as so worthwhile, so important, so needful.
I think of 1 Kings 19:4-8. We see there, God’s heart about cooking a meal for His servant. Elijah was worn out after all that happened out there with the prophets of Baal and how God brought a great victory there. But now, Elijah stretched out and fell asleep under the shrub. He was worn out. He didn’t know what he was going to do.
But all of a sudden, an angelic messenger touched him and said, “Get up and eat!” He looked, and right there by his head was a cake baking on hot coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank, and then slept some more.
Then the Lord’s angelic messenger came back again, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, or otherwise you won’t be able to make the journey.” So, he got up and ate and drank. That meal gave him the strength to travel for 40 days and 40 nights until he reached the mountain of God.
Dear ladies, do you see how God was so concerned about His servant? He sent an angel to cook a meal, to cook a nutritious cake. It may have even been Jesus Himself who came. That meal enabled him to go for 40 days and 40 nights. That was some meal, wasn’t it?
Anyway, I wrote, as we’ve been doing this series on the kitchen, I wrote this little acrostic. I like acrostics, don’t you? It’s the word “Kitchen.”
K -- Keeping the home fires burning.
I – Intently interested in looking after the health of my
husband.
T – Tenderly caring for my family.
C – Cooking up great meals.
H – Happily preparing food for my family.
E – Enjoying life in my kitchen.
N – Nourishing my family with wholesome and delicious food.
Did you notice number “I”? “Intently interested in looking after the health of my husband.” I do believe that’s a responsibility that we do have, as wives, is to care for our husband nutritionally. I know my husband, if I didn’t care for him, he would just eat any old thing! He would just eat junk! He would just eat anything! Whatever’s there, he’ll eat. He doesn’t ever think to know if it’s healthy.
So, if I want to keep him healthy, and he is 81 years of age, and I want to keep him around for at least another 20, perhaps 30 years, I’ve got to keep him healthy. I do have to wait on him. I have to look after what he has for breakfast, and I have to make sure he has a good lunch, and a good supper.
Of course, it’s not always perfect, because when he’s not around me, he will eat junk. When he’s out, he eats junk. But at least I’m keeping him healthy at home! To me, that is a very important part of what I do in the kitchen, is looking after my husband. What do you think, Erin?
Erin: That’s very important, very important indeed. I was going to say from the last one that we were talking about. . .
Nancy: Keeping marriage warm?
Erin: Yes.
Nancy: What was the first one?
Erin: Warm welcome.
Nancy: The second one?
Erin: Warm meal.
Nancy: What’s the third?
Erin: Warm bed.
Nancy: Ooh, that sounds good! Yes, tell me more!
Erin: Well, that just means. . . Men are very basic. A lot of women say, “Oh, my marriage is failing!” I’ve counseled so many different ladies about their marriages, and it’s always the same junk. It’s always selfishness that gets us in the end when we focus on ourselves. It wasn’t meant to be that way.
The Lord Jesus didn’t die on the cross so you could worry about yourself. He died on the cross so that we could be less of ourselves and more of Him! We’re here to minister, and to keep our homes. It’s a ministry. A lot of women think, “Oh, I need a special ministry,” or “I want to do this, or I want to do that for the Lord.”
Ladies, the greatest ministry you’ll ever have is being a wife, and then a mother. Both are ministries, the very most important critical ministries that you’ll ever have, and the only ones that matter in the end. You can go out there and win the whole world, but if you lose your own soul, or the souls of your own children, you’ve lost everything. It doesn’t even matter.
The children and your husband are the ones that you can take with you into eternity. Those are the ones you focus on first and foremost. To deny yourself, which Jesus came, He said, “If you want to be with Me, you must deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow Me.”
It doesn’t mean a physical cross that you’ve carved out of wood or anything like that. That means daily, whatever your cares are, to put them at the feet of the cross, to go after Jesus with all your might, and all your soul, and all your life. It means denying yourself. It means don’t worry about you.
Why can we actually do these three simple things? We know that men are created differently than women. They have a sense to conquer and dominate and be out in the work force. Women have a sense, and they’re created by the Lord, to keep their homes, and to nurture. To build their homes on the Lord.
Men weren’t created to nurture as much as women were. A lot of times women get in the very bad way of expecting their husbands to be nurturers. They’re not really designed that way, to be nurturing. They’re more designed to go out and provide, and protect, and to fight. Part of the way that they love, the picture is the marriage.
A lot of people just throw their marriages away and go onto the next one. They give up, and they quit fighting. Well, that’s all a bunch of rubbish, because marriage is the picture of Jesus and the church. It is the most sacred thing that you can ever covenant on, that you can ever have this side of heaven. We may as well put the most priority into that as we can because it’s an example and a legacy to our children, and our grandchildren.
I’ve been reviewing all this. My daughters have been pregnant, having their own families and everything. How jaded life would have been if my husband and I would have given up when things got really rough. And believe me, things have gotten rough for us, especially in the beginning years of marriage. It’s hard to adjust to another person. It’s definitely hard to put them first.
Then we expect that the husband should be the one to do everything right, and to love us first, before we do anything in his direction for him. But that’s totally contrary to what the Word of God says. It says the “wives, submit unto your husbands as unto the Lord.” You do it for the Lord.
You don’t have to do it because they deserve it. Today is the day. You just seize the opportunity to do what’s right and what honors God today. You don’t have to have it all mapped out perfectly. He doesn’t even have to deserve it, but when he comes home to a warm welcome, and a warm bed, with a wife who’s eager to be with him, and loves him and adores him, and wants to offer him the intimacy that he needs. All men need that intimacy.
You’ll see the scales fall off. The rough patches soften. When a man feels satisfied in the bedroom, and he feels satisfied from coming home after a long day, to a warm welcome and a warm meal on the table, he will become the most loving husband. It works every time, because it’s God’s way, and God’s way works.
Nancy: Yes. Yes. I think that is so basic, Erin, isn’t it? And yet so many women are actually depriving their husbands of all three. Their husband comes home. Sometimes they’re not even there! They’re out doing other things. A meal is not ready, so there’s not a warm welcome. There’s not a warm meal, which is so important.
And they’re too busy with other things even to be open and ready and thinking about a warm bed, which is not just putting a hot water bottle in the bed! That is being available to him sexually. We have to be always ready and available. I believe, even thinking about it because that is really part of what marriage is.
What does it say? Genesis 2:24: “A man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” That’s just a picture of marriage. So, if that’s not actually happening, we’re not really fulfilling what the marriage is meant to be.
Erin: It says to defraud not. It’s a mandate from the Lord. People talk about mandates all the time in the world and everything. But there are special mandates for marriage. There is something very sacred and holy about keeping that bedroom, the fire alive in there, and the warmth that it brings. It’s a very holy and beautiful thing that the Lord created between a husband and wife.
I will say, because if you read my memoir, you’ll know that I was terribly abused as a child sexually. So, my skew on things was very. . . I had the wrong perspective going in on marriage. The bed was often cold because I felt ashamed. I felt like I wasn’t worthy. I felt like I couldn’t bring myself to the occasion in order to be sexual. Sexuality was a dirty thing.
I had read a book about holy sex. I read about it, and it really imprinted on me. I realized right then and there that it wasn’t about me. It’s about this wonderful thing that God created. Satan perverted it and something happened. But it wasn’t my husband’s fault!
I remember him crying tears and saying, “I wasn’t the one that sexually abused you!” I felt so sorry, and said, “Why should he have to feel like that?” So many of you probably carry the scars and battle scars of years of being terribly misused by men, or by people in your school, or wherever you were, where you were sexually mistreated.
But there is hope. I have a great sexual relationship with my husband now because I put that burden at the foot of the cross. I denied myself. It was the best thing I could ever do. I denied all those feelings. I rebuked all of those feelings that were not right, and I had to bring my mind into the captivity of Christ.
Now I can sing victoriously the praises of those things and how much I enjoy those things now, coming from such a terrible, terrible past. Because God is here to deliver us. He’s our Deliverer. He can make straight ways. He can bring us to the life that we would never know possible. Happiness and joy overflowing. It’s all on Him.
The secret is self-denial. It really is. Most depression and most marriages, it’s all selfishness bound. When you let go, and you have this freedom to wake up and shine for Jesus, and just be Him. Whichever you do, whatever you’re doing, whether it be cooking your meals, or making your bed in the morning, or preparing your home, do it unto the Lord.
Don’t do it for any other reason. Don’t do it even for yourself. Do it for Him. Do it for His glory. Make your home a haven of peace, and beauty, and glory of the Lord. You will be rewarded by denying yourself, and giving it all to Him, and living for His great Name.
THE BEAUTY OF THE MARRIAGE FEAST OF THE LAMB IN YOUR HOME
It’s not abruptness. The sooner you realize that the sooner your marriage will be fixed. The sooner your family will love and adore both of their parents and see the beauty of the marriage feast of the Lamb in your own home. It’s so worth it, to just lay it all at the foot of the cross, deny yourself, and follow Him. Do the wonderful things that He created you to do, the way He created women to be. To operate in that role is the highest calling.
Nancy: Yes. Yes. Oh, amen, Erin. Thank you for that testimony. Because you came from that darkness, but you’re come into light. You didn’t have to go through loads and loads of counseling to do it. You did it by faith and according to the Word.
Erin: I just looked at what the Word says. I wasn’t raised in a church, so when I read the Bible for the first time when I was about 15 years old, I would weep every time I read the words. I didn’t have false doctrines in my head. I didn’t have all these different theologies and religions and everything.
I just took God at His Word. I believed it. If He says it in the Word, then that’s what I’m supposed to do. I even went to churches where it was like, oh my goodness! They were all focused on this ministry, or doing this gift, or that gift, or whatever. All I wanted, because I knew it in the Word of God, it said right there, that women were supposed to be keepers of the home. I thought, “How come we’re not learning about that?” I thought, “Well, it’s the most important thing that I should be learning, because if you look anywhere it talks about women, we were created for the home. Created to be keepers of the home.”
We’re Titus 2 women. When we’re older, we teach the other women. Now I’m getting to be a Titus 2 woman, or mother, to my own daughters, because they’ve got questions about everything under the sun in their own homes and operating in their own maternal roles.
THE EXAMPLE OF A HEALTHY MARRIAGE
You’re never going to just be on hold. They always need you. Your children always need you for your whole life long. You’re always needed, and you’ve always got so much wisdom you can share with them. Having a healthy marriage in front of your children speaks volumes. They have such an example to live up to with their own marriages.
As soon as they start acting selfish or something, I tell them to stop acting selfish. I tell them right how it is, that it doesn’t honor the Lord. It gets them right off their high horse, because we all get on our high horses, of course.
Nancy: Exactly. Yes. Oh, that’s so beautiful. So, dearest ladies, I pray that you can take those three things. I think they’re so important, so simple, so basic, but so glorious! They’ll bring gloriousness into your home. Erin and I are always talking about the glory.
Erin: That’s right! We even have glory meals. We put fine China all over the table, and candles, and special music. It makes such a beautiful glory for the Lord.
Nancy: Oh, yes! A home is meant to be glory. Our relationship with our husband is meant to be glory. It is. It’s meant to be glory. I think intimacy is the greatest glory of all. It is beyond glory. So, just take this for your husband, to always remember as he comes in that door, to give him a warm welcome, a warm meal, nutritious and delightful. And then a warm bed, with lots of excitement.
Erin: Oh, and I was going to say, there’s different kinds of hunger, too. You know, men are hungry for the first thing, the warm welcome. They’re hungry for love and appreciation for what they’re doing. And then they’re hungry for physical food.
But there’s also a hunger for their sexual needs. They are hungry. You know that anybody who’s married . . . Men, you can just tell when they’re starving. I was watching this little Ted Talk thing, and there was a lady on there. She said only seven percent of all married couples are having sexual relations regularly. She’s a counselor for these sorts of things, and she says there are some people who never have sexual relations with each other. Well, once a year, or once a month, or something like that. She said a good, healthy marriage. . .
You think about it, you eat three times a day. Now with a practical sense of sexual intimacy, that keeps a man satiated, a warm marriage bed. . . Two to three times a week is a very healthy amount. It’s not like you have to. . .
Some people like that sort of thing once a day, or twice a day. But on average, like a really good, healthy relationship, a few times a week would be a pretty good middle ground. It’s healthy. You satiate each other after a day or two, whatever. It’s very wholesome to have some sort of regularity to that.
Nancy: Yes. Yes. I do believe with all my heart, just as you’re saying that I’m thinking of that Scripture in Proverbs. Maybe we could go to it here. It’s a good reminder. It’s talking about marriage here. Proverbs 5:15: “Drink waters out of thine own cistern,” you notice it says, “your own,” and “running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.”
This is talking to the husband. “Let her be,” now it’s talking about his wife. “Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? That the Bible says that.
The Bible is amazing. It doesn’t say, “Well, once a month, or once a week.”
Erin: Or three times a week, or anything. “At all times.”
Nancy: It says: “At all times.” The Bible does a bit more than we do. “And be thou ravished,” that word “ravished” in the Hebrew is an amazing word. It means the word you were saying, “satiated, intoxicated.” It’s a word that really means to be like you’re intoxicated, as though you’re drunk!
“And be thou ravished,” or intoxicated, “always with her love.” So, we’ve got “at all times” and “always.” Wow!
Erin: That’s so neat!
Nancy: Well, what do you do with the Bible? Goodness me! [laughter]
Erin: I don’t know. Maybe we have to step it up a bit, ladies! [laughter]
Nancy: But “always,” I looked it up one time, and it’s the same word that’s used with the offerings and the sacrifices that were done every morning and evening. Sometimes I think about them, and I say to my husband, “Oh, you know, I always talk about the morning and evening principle of how we are to have the Word together, and read the Word, and pray together as a family morning and evening, because that was the principle of the tabernacle.”
They did the sacrifices morning and evening. They lit the lamps morning and evening. They lit the altar of incense morning and evening. Everything was morning and evening. And then, I look up this word “always,” and it’s also used of the continual offerings, which were morning and evening. So, I’ll tease him sometimes about that. Not that we quite get to morning and evening! [laughter] But that’s what the Bible says! That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Praise the Lord! I think you’ve got, wow! You couldn’t get anything more spiritual than those three things. The warm welcome, the warm meal, and the warm bed. How wonderful! Oh, that is so great.
Well, let me read to you a poem about the table as we close this session. We began with the table, and we’ve been talking about it for three sessions now, and we really haven’t even started. We could come back for more and more sessions. But I think you’ve got the message.
This is “At the Table.” I wrote this poem years ago.
Where can you communicate while you eat?
Where can you enjoy real fellowship sweet?
Where can you laugh with friends who are neat?
At the table.
Where can you pour out your heart and soul?
Where can you explain what is taking its toll?
Where can you share your vision and goal?
At the table.
Where can you dialogue and sift through ideas?
Verbalize thoughts and yet still be at ease?
Discover new subjects to debate if you please?
At the table.
Where can your hearts be knitted as one?
Where can you yarn, and old stories be spun?
And feel accepted so you don’t have to run?
At the table.
Where can your children learn to sit still?
Acquire eating habits that won’t make them ill?
Be taught good manners of which some have nil?
At the table.
Where to imbibe values and ethics for life?
Learn to eat correctly with fork and knife?
Observe how “to father” and be a good wife?
At the table.
Where can you reveal God’s ways to your kin?
Teach them His Word will keep them from sin?
And to follow God’s laws is the way to win?
At the table.
Where can you encourage your children each day?
And boost the confidence of these “jars of clay”?
Give counsel that will keep them from going astray?
At the table.
Where can you make your house feel a “home”?
With a lovely warm ambience and happy tone?
From where your children will not want to roam?
At the table.
Where can you show love to God’s special “flock”?
Feed those who come to your door and knock?
Even those who don’t know God can be their Rock?
At the table.
Where does God love His presence to fill?
Where does He want His blessings to spill?
Where does He want restless hearts to be still?
At the table.
Dear father and mother, look again at your table,
Family meals together will make your home stable!
Make it a priority--your God will enable!
Sit at your table!
And so, lovely ladies, we seek to make our table a beautiful place for our husbands, for our families, a place where we not only eat meals to feed our physical body, but to feed our souls, to feed our spirits. You see, the table is the place where we feed the whole man—body, soul and spirit.
And as you establish this beautiful thing in your home, then you’ll want to invite others to come in and join you. Hospitality, oh, hospitality around the table is such a beautiful, beautiful thing. I think of all our (as Erin was saying before), when we have meals together and we’ll go down to Erin’s place (sometimes they’ll come to us), we always call it “Gloriana.” We just make it glory, don’t we?
Erin: We sure do!
Nancy: Well, let’s pray, shall we?
“Lord God, we thank You so much again for Your Word, and how Your Word keeps us on the straight and narrow. Even though it’s the straight and narrow, it’s a glory road. Lord, the Word that You give us and show us how to live is the glory road.
“And Lord, we don’t want to live just half-measures. We want to live in the full glory that You came to give us! So, Lord, we ask that You will help us, because this is part of the glory road, just making glorious meals and having glorious fellowship with our families. Then having glorious hospitality. Oh, Father, just help us to live in this glory.
“We thank You that You are so, Lord, You’re so concerned about all the little things that go on in our kitchens, and, Lord, all our pots, and pans, and plates, and glasses. Lord, they’re all holy unto You, Lord. They’re sacred, because even as we handle them, and You dwell in us, they are sacred. Lord, even doing dishes is sacred. It’s glory. It’s never a boring task. Everything is glory with You, Lord God.
“I pray that You’ll bring glory into the kitchens, Lord God, of every precious mother listening. Lord, I pray for glory to fill their kitchens. I pray for glory to fill their homes. I pray for glory to fill their bedrooms. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org
Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
WARM IS LOVELY BUT . . .
You’ve just listened to Erin and I speak about the warm welcome, the warm meal, and the warm bed. However, I am thinking that we were a little too mild and that we could notch it up a bit more. What do you think?
HOT AND SPICY WELCOME
Don’t just yell Hi from the kitchen when your husband comes home. Get up from what you are doing. Go to the door or walk toward your husband and welcome him with open arms and a loving and lingering kiss. Tell him how happy you are to see him. A warm welcome is nice, but a hot spicy welcome is even nicer!
HOT AND SPICY MEAL
Make a lovely nutritious meal for your husband and family but make it spicy and full of flavor too. Bland food is boring. Spice up your food with herbs and spices and if you are up to it, hot peppers too. Basic, wholesome food changes from satisfying to scrumptious when you make it flavorful. God gave us tastebuds. Tantalize those tastebuds. Try out new things.
And spice up your family mealtimes with good conversation. Mealtimes can be terribly boring if there is no purposeful conversation. As I raised our children, I found that it was just as important to think about what we would talk about as what I would cook for the meal. Things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen. Think of a subject to bring to the table to discuss with your husband and family—political, biblical, historical, or geographical. Ask a question and get each one in the family to share their thoughts. Think of ideas to make your mealtimes exciting.
HOT AND SPICY BED
Always be ready to love your husband passionately. Forget being passive and pour out your hot spicy love on him. He is waiting for it. As you give to him, you will be blessed beyond measure. Proverbs 5:20 tells us that the wife is to “satisfy” and “ravish” her husband. Yes, that’s King James language. Other translations say “captivate, intoxicate, exhilarate, rapture” I can’t let you off the hook, ladies. It’s Bible!
Your husband will love coming home to you!
~ Nancy
And here’s another poem about the table I wrote yeas ago.
From Psalm 128
“Come to the table, supper’s ready to eat!”
All the children come running to find their seat,
At the head of the table father takes his place
And with all gathered round he says the grace.
He’s made an effort to be home from work,
From his place at the table he will not shirk,
He affirms his commitment to his family and wife
And his presence at the table eliminates strife.
Mother has taken time to prepare a nice meal,
Full of nutrition, not a pre-packaged deal,
She delights to cook for her growing brood,
Knowing it’s a sacred task to prepare their food.
The table’s inviting – a clean tablecloth too,
The plates nicely set, perhaps a candle or two.
The children all help and do their part
To make the table look great and very smart.
What joy to be together at the end of the day,
To laugh, communicate, and each have a say,
To share the day’s happenings with one another
And tell what they’ve learned to father and mother.
The plates are now empty, they’re full to the top!
Is it time to leave the table? No! Stop, stop!
We’ve fed only the body and the soul so far,
The best part’s to come, and it’s not out of a jar.
It’s time for devotions; we must feed the spirit,
Of the blessing from this, there is no limit.
Father opens the Bible and to his family he reads
Sowing into their hearts God’s eternal seeds.
Now it’s time to pray, each one takes a turn,
They pray for needs as God’s will they discern,
They give thanks for blessings with a grateful heart
And develop a spirit of gratitude right from the start.
God’s blessing is on this family we know
As around the table their “olive plants” grow,
God’s smile is upon them as they follow His way
And establish this principle for now and always.
Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org