The Library of the Heart

When I was growing up, it was my fate to be the son of parents who believed that the Sunday morning worship service and the Sunday evening worship service was offered so that I could attend them.  Very few did I ever miss.  I remember coming home from college one weekend and announcing to my mother that I would not be going to church on that Sunday morning, only to get the spiel many have heard which includes, "While you sleep under this roof and eat at this table...."  so I got up and dressed for church.

 

What I did not realize I was getting at the time was a library of spiritual songs, religious rituals, and memorized selections of Scripture.   It was not a library made for the shelves, but for the heart.  Only when I made it deep into my adult years did I realize how much of this stuff I learned at church was imbedded in my spirit.  I needed no hymnbook to sing, no book or ritual to recite creeds and prayers, nor a Bible to have the Word before me.  It was all inside.  I carried it with me. 

Many times through the years of preaching I would find a way to inject this word about the value of young people being in worship with their parents.  Even though they might be sleeping and not paying attention, as was the case with me many a Sunday, osmosis gave me more than I knew I was getting.  What they got from being in church was more important than learning how to kick or hit a ball.  One of the things the young and old get from regular church attendance is preparation for troubling times.  They are always sure to come.  During these days of trouble, we see more than ever the value of the faith we carry with us and the rich resources we can carry in our heart for times of trouble.