My earliest memories from childhood all revolve around a little town in Alabama called, Flat Rock.  The old house has long ago burned down and the dirt road has been paved but the memories of my upbringing still linger and fill my heart each time I travel the old road home.  I took this photo of a morning glory growing wild along the side of memory road a few weeks ago.  Thinking back to that morning I am reminded of all the pleasant recollections I have centered on this road.

        I learned to ride a bicycle and drive a car on this road; I picked huckleberries and blackberries for the sweetest pies you ever tasted growing on the edge of this road.  I use to walk to catch the bus at the end of this road, because the road was too rough for the school bus to travel.  And when the weather was rainy or snowing I remember mom setting us on the hood of a tractor and carrying us to catch the bus.  I remember walking this road late on a starless night and whistling, hoping to conjure up some courage when I could hear a bobcat scream or the hooting of an owl. 

        Home; it means many things to many people.   Home is more than four walls; home is where we learn what is right and what is wrong.  Home is where we learned to say thank you when someone did something nice for us.  Home is more than a roof over your head—it’s a foundation under your feet; a place that our feet may leave, but never our hearts.  The home is God’s built-in training facility.  Home is a place where the great are small, and the small are great.  Home is not where you live but where people love you and understand you.

        As a young man I wanted more than anything to escape its hold on me; as an older man I find myself wanting to go back and realizing that even if the house no longer stands, the mark it has left on my life will never leave me.  That my friend is very encouraging to me; it means that the love and security I felt as a child will always be with me.  Let us value and appreciate the people who call us brother, sister, mom and dad.  Let us daily search for ways to express our love for them; because one day the only way will be able to visit them is by taking a trip down memory road.  Loving your family is a choice; choose to show them today.

Something to think about:

• When you’re safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.

• A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.

• A happy family is but an earlier heaven.

• Many have forgotten the value of characteristics and activities which identify the family as unique and different. They are called “traditions.”

• A palace without affection is a poor hovel, and the meanest hut with love in it is a palace for the soul.

• If there is any good in you, it should show itself first in your own household.

• What we desire our children to become, we must endeavor to be before them.

• When a small girl was asked, “Where is your home?” she replied, “Where Mother is.”

• If your home is unbearable, maybe you’re the bear.

There’s no place like home
Rickey Moore