Cinnamon Toast, Monopoly and Popcorn

As a kid, I paid very little attention to what the inside of other people’s homes looked like. I just remember the fun times that I had playing games with them or watching tv at somebody else’s house who had better reception than our tv with rabbit ears. One house that I visited, because my Mom needed somebody to watch me while I was sick and she had to work, belonged to a “hippy” family that was very poor. I don’t remember what the house looked like on the inside, I just remember that our lunch consisted of the best cinnamon toast made lovingly by a woman who had nothing else to give. It was where I learned to play a much faster version of Monopoly, which I still play to this day. It was warm, safe and nurturing to me as a young boy.

Another home that I spent even more time at was several miles away from mine and the family again had very limited resources.  We played a lot of games, read books and watched some tv at that house. We also ate a lot of popcorn with nutritional yeast on it.  My friend’s Mom was very health conscious and had little to work with, but the popcorn was filling and the environment was comforting. You know what? As hard as I try, I still cannot picture what the condition of the home was on the inside. I can only remember that I felt comfortable and safe there.

I miss those days when people would get together to just sit around and enjoy each other’s company without anybody worrying about what other people were thinking about their possessions. I know it’s not just my imagination that people actually worry about that. I have on repeated occasions overheard people talking about not feeling comfortable with having others over to their homes because they felt their homes were not “guest worthy.”

I will even admit that there have been times when I felt the same way. Our house has that “lived” in look. We keep our house clean, but it is far from perfect. Yes, there is clutter from time to time and on occasion a dog-hair tumbleweed will roll across the floor. We have wood laminate floors throughout the living room and kitchen and the dog-hair tumbleweeds are very obvious! The funny thing about dog-hair tumble weeds is that we can sweep the floor and then 10 minutes later a dog-hair tumbleweed presents itself. I swear my dogs should be completely bald by how much hair they lose on a daily basis.

I guess my point is, I feel like sometimes I am missing out on enjoying others people’s company (whether at my house or theirs) because we sometimes focus on things that are really not that important. So what if a person has a stack of magazines sitting on their kitchen table. I don’t care! So what if they have unfolded laundry sitting in a laundry basket in their living room. I don’t care!  It is not the end of the world and I don’t really care about silly things like that. If Jesus were to walk into anybody’s house right now, I don’t think he would be looking at their possessions with the intent of judging them by their worth. I truly believe he would be more interested in eternal matters and how they have helped others in this life. Why should I be any different?