Beating Morgan in a game of checkers next to Floyd’s Barber Shop

We have just returned from a couple of days away with the family.  Travels took us to the real “Mayberry” – Mount Airy, North Carolina.  The kids – and their daddy! – have watched every episode of The Andy Griffith Show several times through the years.  This trip, like the show, was a throw back to simpler days and quieter lives.  

Riding in Barney’s patrol car and eating at “The Snappy Lunch” have a way of slowing your pace and lightening your heart.  (The pork chop sandwich doesn’t hurt either.)  It was a joy to laugh and just be together.  No, they don’t make shows like Andy Griffith anymore.  But the love for simple things and the enjoyment of life is a choice that we must make.  It must intentionally be passed on to our children.

While in this sleepy little town, I snapped a picture of a sign that said: “It’s not the destination; it’s the ride!”  That’s what enjoying the journey is all about – looking for divine appointments, loving fellow travelers along the way.

Life moves on so quickly.  I have been reminded this week that my children will not be young forever.  Nor will I.

Lauren at Ellie Walker’s

Everyone noticed that I drove a little slower and stopped more frequently on the way home.  Maybe it was the words of season 3, episode 21…”What’s your hurry?”  Whatever it was, I want to work at being a little more sensitive to what truly matters and a little less sensitive to what will surely pass away.

Grant at Wally’s Filling Station

Tomorrow life will return to its busy schedule and that is to be expected.  Yet in the hurry of life we must not neglect time to think, to pray, to read, to laugh, to talk, and to be quiet.  You don’t live in Mayberry but you can enjoy the journey.