On Monday, I talked about how my friend Margaret and I were still playimg with Fisher Price people in junior high. Today, I go back even farther.

While Margaret and I usually played Fisher Price people at her house, we tended to do more outdoor games at mine.

One of our favorites was Duck, Duck, Goose. However, we modified it by singing hymns as we went around the circle until we finally replaced a word with GOOSE.

As an adult, there are so many things that I find strange about this.

1. It was just the two of us. There was no circle to actually run around.
2. We loved to sing and were apparently such hams that there was never any surprise as to when the word GOOSE was coming. It would come at the very end of the song lest our solos be cut short.
3. It might have been sacreligious to sing Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine…born of His Spirit, washed in His GOOSE.

But the thing is, it wasn’t. Not then.

We sang the hymns even in our play time because those were the songs in our hearts.

We loved the Lord. We loved church, our friends at church, the church services, our Sunday School classes, Choir, G.A.s, church musicals…

Our parents had us at church Sunday morning, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday nights. Some weeks there were activities on Saturdays as well.

We loved it.

I hear people make the joke, “The first drug I ever did is I was drug to church…”

I hate that joke. Not only do I not find it funny, I don’t relate. At all.

Church was my world.

My parents worked long hours and occasional extra jobs; Margaret’s mom did the job of two parents and busy herself. But they never once said, “Let’s just skip this week and rest.” It just wasn’t an option. Not only was it not an option, it wasn’t a desire.

They loved the Lord too.

I know where it came from.

When I’d visit my grandparents, gospel music played on the 8-track in my Grandma’s car. My Grandaddy would sit on the front porch swing and sing hymns all day.

When you grow up praising God, you teach your kids to grow up praising God.

When you love the Lord so much that the hymns come out even in your playtime, you know that your heart holds nothing but love for the Savior.

What does YOUR heart hold?