It’s Sunday morning circa 1987 and I can see my Grandma Rue, standing at the stove in a flowered smock dolloping hush puppy batter into hot oil. Other simmering pots hold collards and a picnic shoulder, green beans, butter beans and potatoes.
On some visits, mom goes with Granddaddy to church. Growing up in tobacco territory, my grandfather worked and fished and gardened and made sure my mom and her siblings had perfect attendance in Sunday School though little else was perfect in the family.
Being a kid, and a shy one at that, I’d choose to stay on with Grandma as she shelled peas or snapped beans for Sunday dinner (aka lunch to those above the Mason Dixon line) into the metal bowl between her feet.
As little rolls finish rising in the oven, family pours in the back door after Sunday service, waiting to savor the midday meal.
Grand kids clamor for choice seating – the green stool- pulled up to the bar. Granddaddy pulls off his tie and hugs everybody’s neck. The filigree clock points to 12:30, our most gracious heavenly Father is thanked, the feast begins.
And sometimes there’s coconut cake.
***
The calendar pages turn over like rows in Granddaddy’s garden and if I’m not careful it’s easy to forget my roots.
To remind me, I have a few pieces of those earthly heirlooms- somehow I came away with the green step-stool and the tattered timepiece- but I know my greater treasure lies above.
No time machine can roll back the years but by moving forward with the Lord, he shows us how to regain those lost arts with a fresh perspective.
Where is he calling you?
Back to the bible? Back to church? Back home?
No matter how long you’ve been gone, He’s waiting to welcome you to the feast filled with good things like Faith, hope and love.
***
It’s Sunday morning again well over 30 years later. Since my last visit back south a whole year rolled by. The grandparents long laid to rest but the power of sharing a meal is still alive.
After a Saturday of celebrating, we call the aunts and corral the twins for breakfast. {Two year olds require a lot of corralling…}
We fill our plate with fresh picked strawberries, crispy bacon and eggs. Mini muffins just the right size for tiny hands and hot sausage for the bravest of the diners.
And there’s left over strawberry cake.
This time we drag chairs from the formal dining room up to the big round kitchen table piling everyone in and from the mouths of babes we join in the blessing.
God our Father, God our Father
We thank you, we thank you
For our many blessings, for our many blessings
A-men, A-men.
Those simple Sunday traditions aren’t lost after all.
They’re just right where we left them.
♥
Faith. Hope. Home & Love…tell me what time honored traditions you’re looking to rekindle? I’d love to pray for you! And if you haven’t gotten your set of scripture cards, won’t you go and put your email in here?
Sometimes I link up with these lovely blogs
recollecteddesign.com 
Ok this is more than great. So many parallels and I miss our Sunday dinners. Sometimes it depends who you marry which traditions Connor not. I will add this to our welcome home welcome heart fb page and Every Table Tells a Story. Which yours does ❤️
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Awww thank you Sue!!! Yeah I seem to be stuck on a table theme lately… it’s speaking to me for sure… Thanks for all your encouragement. ♥♥ And all the suggestions you’ve made of late are still simmering and being prayed over. xx
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Lovely! What a nice peek into your family’s history, you, and the future of your family in those adorable twins. Wishing you a wonderful Easter as you gather around the table with your family this weekend. May the table not only be laden with delicious dishes but may you also contemplate the meaning of this holiest of weeks and the hope that lives in all of us through that sacrifice! xoxo
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Thank you my dear ♥ Yes they sure were a hoot and a handful!! It always makes me nostalgic to visit my family down there and it was funny how I started this post weeks before we left to visit but couldn’t round it out till I got back home. 🙂 God works in his time table for sure! May your Easter be filled with hope and family and good food as well! x♥x♥
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Awww Heather! This post made my eyes leak! I too have such wonderful memories of those delicious Sunday dinners my Mom would cook. As hard as I try, I will NEVER be able to cook like she did!! I sure do miss her! And thanks to the pictures…I feel like I have visited “home” for the second time this month! Love the family in NC! Can’t wait to go down again to see those precious twin girls! They were so much fun!
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awww 🙂 ♥ I know me too!
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This brought back memories of family dinners. We went to our grandparent’s house most Sunday evenings. May you have many more family dinners and make more memories. Happy Easter.
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Thanks Theresa! Hope you have a blessed Easter and thanks for coming over for a read!
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Thank you for sharing this beautifully heartwarming post. You sparked treasured memories to come to the surface in my own mind of me helping my grandma snap green beans, the kitchen windows steamed up as her potatos were boiling which would be turned into the best mashed potatoes ever! And of course the step stool. Hers was red. I can still hear her voice and smell the smells.
Thank you for the reminder that God is always beckoning us back to that which He has called us.
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Aww Hey Karen! Thanks for sharing your sweet memories! It’s so crazy that everyone’s grandma seemed to have some version of the same stool! Hope you had a beautiful Easter and thanks for stopping by!
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Hello there! I was immediately drawn in by the title of your post because I love Sunday dinners. In fact, one of my New Years resolutions was to have folks in for Sunday dinner at least one time a month. I’ve not be a complete success at it, but I’m working on it. Thanks for the reminders of the beauty of Sunday dinner. Stopped by from Grace & Truth
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Hi Leah! High five on your Sunday Dinner goal! May God bless your efforts and give you strength to persevere!
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Oh my goodness Heather – “No time machine can roll back the years but by moving forward with the Lord, he shows us how to regain those lost arts with a fresh perspective”. Oh you got me with this.The lost arts, the things that spell home to us, that bring comfort and safety are the things we often yearn for, but with God He brings all of that and ALL is given back and theres new memory making and celebrating. Ive been thinking on Easter traditions in the last few days and how to create some of our own to mark its significance for my children. Traditions I remember were around church going and food and watching movies like the Ten Commandments. Nary an old movie of TV these days so the challenge for me is to build on those traditions with fresh perspective. One we started is to spend Good Friday out in nature with a picnic, no shops, no devices just slow time, friends and lots of green. Thank you for these beautiful words today. Feels like its beautifully spoken to a lot Ive been thinking on lately. xxx (Love the family pics and those twin girlies so beautiful)
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♥♥ God is so good with how he takes what I sometimes think are weak words and infuses His strength into them for just the right recipient 🙂 I love your Good Friday tradition and I’m sure in time God will bring the old and the new all together for us in His special way. Strangely I can’t recall that I’ve ever seen the Ten Commandments in it’s entirely though I remember it being on every Easter! May have to go do a little Netflix search! xxoo
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He is risen indeed!
Have a wonderful Easter celebration, friend …
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And to you friend! 🙂
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