Read Psalm 128:1, 3

Before supper one night, I suggested to my son Curtis (who was six) that he should serve Charissa (four) before he served himself. Naturally, he wondered why, since the platter of chicken sat directly in front of him and he was starving. I explained it is polite for fellas to serve girls before they serve themselves. The rule sounded weird to him, but he was willing, if she didn’t take too long.

Surprisingly, after prayer, he picked up the huge platter, held it in front of his sister, and asked which piece of chicken she wanted.

Charissa relished all the attention. Being quite young, however, she had no idea which piece was which. So, very seriously, she replied, “I’d like the foot.”

He glanced in my direction, frowned as the hunger pains shot through his belly, then looked back at her and said, “Charissa, Mother doesn’t cook the foot!”

To which she replied, “Where is it?”

With increased anxiety, he answered, “I don’t know! The foot is somewhere else, not on this platter. Look, choose a piece. Hurry up.”

She studied the platter and said, “OK, just give me the hand.”

By now Cynthia and I were biting our lips to refrain from laughing out loud. We would have intervened, but decided to let them work it out.

“A chicken doesn’t have a hand, it has a wing, Charissa.”

“I hate the wing, Curtis...oh, go ahead and give me the head.”

That did it. He reached in, grabbed a piece, and said, “That’s the best I can do!” He gave her the breast, which was about as close to the head as he could get.

How joyful are those who fear the LORD.... Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table. (Psalm 128:1, 3)

Such moments of hearty laughs and silly remarks dull the edge of life’s razor-sharp demands and intensity. Don’t trade those times around the table with your children and grandchildren for anything! They are treasured moments. Let them be. Remember them well. Then guard them with your life! Someday those memories will be like treasured friends.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.