Not so long ago...

"Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."Jerimiah 10:5

Note: Everytime I read that verse I crack up. I am in the middle of doing a Beth Moore bible study called "Believing God". It is the best study of the word I have ever done and helped to solidify my faith. The Lord used studying His Word in that particular study like no other I have ever done. This particular verse is used at one point and it fit my mood today! It always makes me smile.

Four years ago today, at around 10:00 in the morning, I drove my dad to the train for the last time ever. He had babysat the night before and had to get home to watch the Yankees in the post season. Dad was a man of priorities after all! He was more than welcome to watch the game at my house, but he had no interest. For him, the Yankees were a high purpose and watching them was a holy calling. I, of course, love the Yankees, but I rarely watch them. I've just never gotten the bug. Now football, that's another story all together!
Our son, Jack, plays football for Pop Warner. I have known football all of my life. My brother, Mark, played as a kid and Sunday afternoons were spent at Lennon Park in Yonkers while he played. I never watched the game, there were other little sisters to play with. My husband, John, is a Jets fan...being that my dad was a Giants fan, that makes this a mixed marriage. And Dad was passionate about the Giants. He would settle in on the floor of the living room...yes, we had perfectly good furniture, but dad rarely sat on it. He layed on the floor in front of that TV and watched the game up close. There was all sorts of vocabulary that came out of that living room on game days...we didn't go into the living room when the game was on. If they were losing , you might get clipped by a flying ashtray.
But now that my son plays, I have a new love for the game. Somewhere between flag and tackle I fell in love with it. I found myself watching not just one game a few weeks ago, but three...Picture in picture is a marvelous thing! During a game, John and Jack sit on the couch and the girls come and go...I run between the kitchen making meals and the next play. When it is a particularly good one, I jump up and down screaming: "Go baby go!" What in the world has happened to me?
What was my dad's passion and something that was just his, has become a family sport. I do watch the Giants...how could I not want to? I still jeer (oh, I so meant to write "cheer" there...that is some slip up! LOL!) on the JETS...marriage requires it. But it is no longer a reason to avoid the living room, but an invitation to come join the fun.
I think Dad would chuckle at how much we all love the game. John takes all the kids at one point or another to watch the JETS play out in Jersey. The rest of us cheer at home and watch for them on TV. How awesome that we have become a football family!
I can thank Jack for that and my dad too. I promised the man before he died that Jack would not play soccer but rather football. LOL! I took it as a joke, but I think he meant it! I am glad I made that promise. I think we would have missed a lot other wise. Jack adores football the way my dad did. But I think he has more balence in his life or at least, I think it is our job as his parents to make sure he knows to have it. I pray sports never become his scarecrow, but I think the potential is there.
To a very real degree sports were the scarecrow in my dad's melon patch. But I think he knew that in the end. To God be the Glory!
Go Giants! Let's go J-E-T-S!

How about you?
Is there a passion in your life from one of your parents? Are you surprised by it? Do you avoid things your parents loved, out of spite, fear, or just because you can't imagine you would care about the same thing? Have you fallen in love with something that they did once too? Have you spotted a scarecrow in a melon patch in your life?

Let's pray:
Father, you give us memories to comfort us, to bring us joy, to make us laugh. Sometimes memories are hard on us and make us miss things from our past. But you are the God of all comforts. You made us this way and so we rest in that. You never want us to dwell on the past as a painful thing, but rather to use it to Your Glory. Be it happy or sad, memories should never be an idol, but rather a chance to reflect on Your glory. Thank You for giving us a good chuckle in the Word. May we search it out, knowing that You are the Creator of everything! Amen.