“Chuck, head upstairs and get the movie ready! You know how I dislike eating cold cheese chips,” I hollered from the kitchen. “Eva, come get the drinks and take them upstairs. Charlotte, follow daddy upstairs – go on, follow daddy.” Off she will go, pattering down the hallway and crawling up the stairs saying, “Daey, Daey” all the way.
Eva will typically take the drinks upstairs and return to watch me prepare the cheese chips. It is quite an art to watch. It includes chips, shredded cheese, jalapeños, and tomatoes. Most people call these nachos (wink). Sometimes we change it up a bit, and I pop popcorn. Charlotte and Eva love to watch the kernels pop on the stove and are entertained by my skill in dumping the kernels into the bowl while some kernels are still popping. We all scream as each pop startles us!
Heading upstairs, the lights are dimmed, per usual (I love a good lamp light setting). The movie is selected, and everyone gathers on the couches for a rousing family movie night. The selection varies but often falls within the old ninety’s films or even further back to nostalgic Disney.
Each family has to set limits on what is allowed on television and what is not. So much of today’s entertainment has underlying messages or devalues Christian teaching that we do not allow it in our home. I remember what the Reverend said in the movie My Six Loves. Mr. Kingsley, the play right director, looks at him and states, “Jim, I realize this is pretty heavy stuff, but there are other days of the week besides Sunday. Reverend Jim counters, “Trash is trash any day of the week, Mr. Kingsley.”
The home is the playground, and the lab all rolled into one.
Frances Phillips
The home is the proving ground for all Christian character – not the church, school, or our environment. It is the home. That’s not to say none other has an impact; it does. But ultimately, it is what is taught in the house that is going to make the most significant impact.
Our upstairs family room is a place we frequent, and yet, on Sunday evenings, it is as if “pixie dust” is sprinkled all over the room, and we are transported to Neverland. The girls get so excited. They know it is a special night when we are all together for quality time.
Occasionally, our evening is interrupted by other events- that is ok. We change it up and take on the intruder, but it is the exception, not the rule. We don’t plan on pouring into our kids for eighteen years only to have them tell us we never showed up. I want them to remember their growing-up years with fondness, knowing it is worth duplicating. Our family convictions must run deep.
A person tries to make a good life for his family, and when it turns out to be too good, you can’t resist trying to hold on.
The Happiest Millionaire
Our neighbor’s house sits back off the road, tucked behind two beautiful Bradford pear trees. They have many acres upon which they run their cattle. Her backyard is a sea of flowers in the summer – most I have never heard of. Her garden would grow vegetables just by her looking at it. I need no other assistance other than her green thumb when it comes to questions about country living. Martha walked out into her front yard one Sunday evening. She said, “I could see the lamp flickering in the window from upstairs in your home, and I thought to myself, they must be having family movie night.”
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. Hebrews 10:24-25
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