Take Me Down To the Little White Church
There is just something about a little simple white church. You know those churches you find as you drive down backroads in the country. I think that is one of the reasons I take backroads whenever I travel. I love to explore and see the beauty that is God’s Country. But that also makes me long for the days when things were simpler. When I was growing up, there was not these mega-churches that can be seen on every street corner.
There is something about a simple white church on a long and winding country road. It brings back memories of being able to walk to the store without the fear of getting catcalled or mugged. There is something to be said about those times when families actually sit down and ate dinner together. Those times when our curfews were when the streetlights came on. Those times when it was less about judgment and more about love. Those times when you reached out for a helping hand, and one was there for you – no questions asked.
Those times when dare I say, the family was everything. Don’t get me wrong, I love the family I have now, but I long for those days with my sister, Karen, who could make you laugh without trying, and those days that I would wait up to have beef stew with my dad after he came home for working a shift as a cop. Those days were I truly knew what it felt like to be a kid and know love as a daughter and a sister. Those days that I honestly can say are no more.
I choose to love from afar because, in that love, there is no hurt and no judgment. It is me doing the best I can with the tools I have in my toolbox. It is me saying I will be there if you need me, but I can’t continue to let my health suffer, so that is why I stay away. It is me drawing a line in the sand and saying, “I Love You, but I Can’t do (Fill in the blank ) anymore.
So you see, when I see those little old-fashioned white churches on my travels, it reminds me that my faith is just like those churches. They aren’t flashy and don’t make a huge statement, but the faith and love of God inside those walls, like me, are the things that keep holding them together. It is standing the test of time. It is standing in the quiet beauty that Faith in God is everything. And it is okay to love from afar if you know that you are working to protect the little girl you once wore and the woman you have become and still becoming.
So next time you see a little white church on a country road, stop and remember all the good in your life and know that God is still there, standing the test of time.
