From a young child to an adult, I can vividly remember my family holiday dinners at my grandparents’ home.
Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, our entire family (my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, all of my cousins, brothers and me) would gather together in the dining room to recite 23rd Psalm and bless the food before we began eating dinner.
Family Traditions are Special
Wow! I remember it so clearly…
My grandmother would be sitting at one end of the long table and my grandfather would be sitting at the other end.
All the adults would be sitting at the table and the children would be standing around the table because we ate in another room.
(It was real cool when I became old enough to sit at the grown folks’ table. (smile))
We would all hold hands and my grandmother would begin reciting the 23rd Psalm. And everyone would join in with her. (Ok, let me be honest. When I was a young child, I would just mouth the words. But over time, I memorized the entire 23rd Psalm by heart.)
To this day, I still find comfort in reciting the 23rd Psalm.
Every night, before Jade and Cory go to sleep, Syreeta and I read a book to them and then we all say our prayers.
Tonight was special because we selected The Beginner’s Bible for the night-night story and as I was flipping through the pages, I landed on page 190 entitled, “The Lord is My Shepherd.”
Right when I saw the title, I smiled and told Jade and Cory about how when I was their age that their great-grandmother would lead us in reciting 23rd Psalm every Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other family holiday dinner.
They smiled and then I recited “The 23rd Psalm.”
“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thy preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thy anoint my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen.”
I feel strength every time I recite the 23rd Psalm.
Does this scripture impact you too?
What memories from your childhood make you smile?
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