Gò0dNews for Everyone
June Joy
M
by Monica Gambrell
y parents divorced when I was six years old,
we asked my mother where we were going, she always
and my mother assumed the role of both mother
replied with a resounding “who knows, but we’ll have fun
and father. She was a strict disciplinarian, and
getting there!” We would literally have no destination in
there was no doubt that she held tight reigns on the entire family. As a wonderful balance to the discipline, she took any available opportunity to create moments of joy. Saturdays were both dreaded and looked forward to by
mind, just a pleasant drive and a lot of fun. I could recount numerous such trips, but one comes to mind more than most. It was late June and extremely hot. We were all piled into the station wagon, and I’m sure
all of us. The standing rule was this: “as soon as the house
our conversation in the back was as heated as the black
is clean, we begin an adventure.” And when mom said
tar road on which we were traveling. My mother took the
clean, she meant spotless! We stripped the beds, did all the laundry, swept, mopped, and waxed the wood floors, cleaned the inside of the refrigerator, washed the windows, cleaned the floor furnace, cleaned the oven, dusted, and much more. I’ve never known anyone that was more of a pack-rat than she was, so dusting (always my job) was a real chore. The kitchen sink was lined with a towel before adding hot sudsy water, and every knick-knack in the house had to be washed and dried before returning it to a freshly dusted shelf or table. If you come to my house today, you’ll find very few things that are not utilitarian because I don’t want to have to dust them. Every hairbrush in the house was soaked in bleach water, then rinsed and laid out
watermelon that was rolling around the back floor of the
to dry. We knew not to dawdle, though, because it was a
car and made a game that was both tasty and entertaining.
race to finish so our adventure could begin!
She cracked it open on the tailgate (no utensils handy),
Every family develops their own way of looking
scooped it out by hand, and tossed hands full to each of us
at things, and my mother encouraged in every way
lined up on the side of the road while we held our hands
the thought that “the journey is the point, not the
behind our backs. Imagine driving by and seeing that!
destination.” In those sweet days of my childhood,
What a clever way to break up the tension and irritation of
weekend adventures were treasured beyond words. We
six people in a hot, crowded car!
always kept the ice-cream freezer (the hand-crank kind)
How easy it is to choose joy. How rarely do we choose
in the trunk of the car, along with peanut butter, canned
it. Lord, help us to have an attitude of joy. May we search
meat, rock salt, and other “necessities.” When cleaning
for it as one searches for great riches. “These things have
ceased, we threw together a cooler of food and ice, and
I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and
piled in the car for a trip to who knows where. When
that your joy might be full” (John 15:11).
38 // June 2022
