A Christian's Breakfast
A Christian’s Breakfast“In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.” (Psalm 5:3)
At home I look ahead, in the morning, to the breakfast table. There we gather first of all around the Word of God, with our children, for a few moments with the Book. We like to have our family worship before eating. I remember that Leland Wang, of Hong Kong, gives his people the slogan, “No Bible, no breakfast!” If you must go without one of them, skip the porridge, but do not let your soul starve through a morning. Your body can live on the stored–up strength, but the manna from yesterday spoils if we try to use it over again today. There are many Christians who could find the whole secret of a life of defeat in a neglected Bible.
And then somewhere at the close of the prayer, perhaps even silently, after the audible words have ended, I look forward to the next bend of the road and commit the table conversation to the Lord and all that must happen until the children go out of the door to school. So much can be taught to children by the incidental and indirect conversation of the father and mother, while they pay attention to their food. We can pick out incidents from the daily press or the life of the parish, and point out some one’s failure or success and see the basis for it. To say that John Smith got into trouble because he did a certain thing may leave a more lasting impression than to say, “Now son, mind you never do such a thing.” The discussion of some verse in the Scripture may bring out a truth which father and mother will know needs strong application in the life of one of the children, and they are quicker at catching the point than are many grown folks.
