I think perhaps I should have been born in an earlier time.  I love old houses, old church buildings, old books, old linens, old china, heirloom roses and heirloom tomatoes and yes, I love the written word.  When I write a letter, it is in longhand, and now I understand that our school system is wanting to remove cursive writing from their curriculum. To me it evokes memories of a time when the pace was much slower, an elegance, refinement, manners, and people had time to talk.  Had time for one another.  Had time for pie and coffee. Got to know one another.  Pie was served on real china and coffee was served  in elegant cups. They made you feel special, important, that you mattered enough for someone to go out of their way for you and to serve another like that.

“Let brotherly love continue.  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers:  for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”       Hebrews 13:1

“Use hospitality one to another without grudging.”     I Peter 4:9

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; . . . .”  I Timothy 3:2

“And when the day was far spent, his disciples came unto Him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed.  Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread:  for they have nothing to eat.  He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.  And they say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat.  He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye?  Go and see.  And when they knew, they say: Five, and two fishes.  And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.  And they sat down in rank, by hundreds,and by fifties  And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed,and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them;  and the two fishes divided He among them all.  And they did all eat, and were filled.”   Mark 6: 35-42

…and though there is a lot that I love about technology, and how fast we communicate, there is room to be courteous in our communications.  We have forgotten the older ways of graciousness and refinement in the social areas of our lives.  Everything seems to be paper plates, plastic forks and hurried meals.  Just get it out of the way and get on to other things.  I believe we in America have had our foot on the accelerator for so long, we don’t know what to do if we ease up, and think on our ways.  …and in this hurried, frenzied lifestyle that we live, we are losing families, friendships that are strewn by the wayside and as heartbreaking as it is to say, losing many young people in the Lord’s church.  We have to take time for what is important in life.

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”   Deuteronomy 6: 6-7

Short texts have gotten to the point that when I send a message, the return answer is shortened to “K”.  I have actually had to search the page to find the answer to a message, and that was all it merited, “K”.  I didn’t know whether to laugh, sit in reflection or despair. Is it just too much to ask for, or to type in that “O?”  I am to the point I don’t even try any more to speak to many people because of these extremely abbreviated messages.  It’s TTYL, ASOP, LOL.  I have to have a dictionary to understand this code language.  We don’t even take time to spell correctly.  “U” stands for You now. I don’t understand the rush, but I do understand the busyness of our American culture, and have often wondered how our Lord, the apostle Paul, Moses, Jeremiah or David would have fared under our current system of communication.  It would be interesting to see.

…and I love the “Old Paths.”  “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.  But they said, We will not walk therein.”       Jeremiah 6:16

“We have more conveniences, but less time.  More degrees, less sense;  more knowledge, less judgment.  These are times of fast food and slow digestion.  Steep profits, shallow relationships.  A time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.”

Eileen Light