Sunday Afternoon Tea

I've so enjoyed reading the comments on my last post (I Heart Hobbit Houses). Please read and comment if you haven't already! Well, after you read this. I love the suggestions and I'm finding new authors and titles to enjoy.

If I had a description of my ponderings this week, they would have the title "The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and the Pharaoh who didn't remember".

It all started last Sunday when Christopher arrived home from visiting a friend's church. He was telling us about their praise and worship team, finding the way they muffle the drums quite interesting. So... his dad started talking about drums and drummers... most specifically famous drummers.

He mentioned the name of Ringo Starr to which my nineteen year old son said....

"Who?" "Um... Ringo Starr... The Beatles". "Never heard of them." "You're joking, right?" (He wasn't.) "The Beatles... Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo?"

He told us he'd heard of Paul McCartney and he knew John Lennon was a famous musician who had been shot. Never heard of the others.

This little question and answer time went on just awhile longer, long enough to find out he also had never heard of the Beach Boys (one of his dad's favorite groups).

How did this happen? I don't know, perhaps because we tend to listen to our music with earphones on rather than on the HiFi like we did when we were younger. Not that I have any Beetles music but there are one or two Beach Boys CD's on the shelf.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. My husband is seven years older than me and the Beach Boys were "oldies but goodies" by the time I was in high school. Still... I was shocked to find out this generation didn't know who the Beatles were.

As I thought of it later in the day, I was reminded of the many times in the Bible that we're told of a new generation who didn't know those who had come before them. It always amazed me that a Pharaoh could arise who didn't know about Joseph. How could that be?

I thought of the following scriptures:

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Deuteronomy 11:19

Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

In this fast paced world in which we live, especially as society has changed so much since I was a child and not always for the better... how important it is for us to make that effort to pass on the old ways... the good ways. As is written in the scripture near the top of this blog, one of my life's verses... "look and ask for the ancient paths".

There are things that must be carried from one generation to another, that which may not seem important at the time. Those which we realize were the gold standard but only after the people who could have passed them on have gone to their rewards... family history and stories, beloved recipes, interesting traditions, and most of all... the spiritual heritage of God at work in the past years, giving hope and faith to children and grandchildren. Not only teaching our children God's Word precept by precept but sharing Him as a Person, one who leads us, guides us, and most of all... loves us.

Not to mention the music. Excuse me while I put some music on the CD player... vintage John Denver, perhaps Elvis (okay, so I'm an Elvis fan)... Oh, right, this is Sunday. Let's dust off those Selah CD's and set aside the itty bitty i-pod as we enjoy beautiful music from one generation to another. Until someone complains and then I'll remember why I have headphones... sigh.