Have you heard a mockingbird in the morning…
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Journal,
Went to visit the old home place at Sharp awhile back. It was just something I had to do by myself. Sometimes I get this lonesome feeling and need to touch something from my childhood.
Nobody lives in the old house any more. She looks so lonely sitting back in the woods by herself. That’s why I don’t venture to see her very much.
Sometimes I would love to put my arms around that old house, and tell her how much I love her. So many memories. I well remember when dad, mom, and we kids made our way back in those woods to find a spot to build the house. Oh yes, we built the house ourselves. Kin folk would pitch in. That was a way of life for us.
Talk about memories, I need to tell you about the night sounds. I can still hear the sounds that would float through the windows of my bedroom at night. There was the whippoorwill with her mournful call. Then you’d hear the screech owl. But then the mockingbird would made her appearance in the mornings. Boy, how that girl could sing.
Do you remember the old song, ‘The Mockingbird Hill.’ I dearly love it. Here it is by Gene Pitney and George Jones…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Wo2-Kpcwk&feature=related
About those woods — Many a rabbit has graced our table from those woods. In fact much of what we ate came from daddy’s old double-barreled shot gun. Don’t rightly know how long that shot gun has been in our family. It goes back to the 1800s.
Then there was the old barn crib. 
I use to practice my knife throwing at the back of the crib. Also loved to rummage through the metal trunk from my grandpa’s store. All kinds of old timey buttons and cuff links in it
Would look through the store books that showed money owed grandpa when he closed the store. Those were just hard times for everyone.
Oh yeah, back to the shot gun….
Been with us a long time. The old 16 gauge Baldwin shotgun was pattened in 1883…
This next picture is the shotgun that belonged to my grandpa, then to my dad, and finally to me. And this is the very gun that my dad used to provide wild game for our table. Believe me, that old shot gun could set you on your rear. I found out by experience. : )
Well, I said it belonged to me. Actually I am giving it to my youngest son Andre. In fact I have four guns that I’m giving to my boys.
Guess its alright if I brag on our children. Betty and I have three children. We are so proud of them; Nathan, Andre, and Shana. The following picture is of me and my boys. The little girl is Nathan’s daughter, Joy. (Few years ago. Joy is now 17.)
Eat your hearts out girlies. Good looks just naturally runs in my family. : ) 
Use to tell my boys, ‘Now don’t both you two boys walk into a room at the same time. Its hard on the ladies. They have a tendency to swoon.’
If you think I’m just funning, just take a look at the prettiest daughter who was ever born east or west of the Mississippi River. (Excluding her mama of course.) Yep, this is our Shana.
I use to tell my boys, ‘Good thing I married your mom. You boys sure would have been ugly.’
Try to find a sense of humor. I really am just funning. : )
Ok, I’ll try to get a bit more spiritual. Its that Carver blood again….
The following devotional is a take off from a study that I offered on our Hebraic-Foundations web site…
Learning to make peace with the past…
It happened some 30+ years ago. I was ministering for a brother who had a storefront church. The series had to do with living in forgiveness. At the end of the series, I invited folks to stand as I led them in a prayer of forgiveness. I asked them to call out the name of a person they 
needed to forgive. Suddenly I heard metal chairs scattering. That is when I saw a lady was on the floor.
It wasn’t one of those falling out things. She quickly jumped up and was beside herself with joy. When I asked her what had happened, she told me that in calling out the name of the person she needed to forgive, it was like a tremendous weight had lifted off her. The lifting of the load caused her to stumble backward.
And this was only part of her joy. She had suffered with osteoarthritis for a number of years. All the pain was gone. Was she truly healed? I’ve seen this lady over the years and she yet holds fast to her testimony of healing.
Is there Biblical precedent for a person having a physical disorder as a result of harboring unforgiveness, resentments, bitterness or some form of ill will towards others. The Bible does teach that these things can be the root cause for certain physical ailments. This is not to say that all sickness or disease or afflictions have a personal cause behind them. Most often this is not the case at all.
What the Bible does teach is that our life originates from our heart. (We live from the inside out.)
The sage said,
“My son, give attention to my words; incline your heart to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the SPRINGS (outgoings) of life.” (Pro4:20-23)
The Hebrew word for ’springs’ is the word ‘tosaah.’ This is a geographical word. It speaks of a boundary or a source. Its reflective meaning addresses ‘goings forth’ or ‘outgoings.’ The point is that what we have in our hearts will determine the boundaries or the outgoing of our own life. Thus we give shape to our own life by what is in our own heart.
The New Testament also deals with bitterness. Notice Hebrews 12:14-16;
“Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.”
Pursuing peace addresses the peace of God’s kingdom. We are to be makers of peace when it is in our power to do so. The statement about sanctification was addressed to the Jewish peoples. Some were wavering over their faith in Jesus. This work of sanctification is the work of the cross and of the blood of Jesus.
But then we have the ‘root of bitterness’. Here a connection is made with the sin of Esau. Esau held a grudge against Isaac. It began to consume his thinking. He was a bitter man and his bitterness likely affected his whole household. That is the way bitterness works. It defiles those around us.
Both Paul and Peter speak to this. Let’s tie some Scriptures together:
[Paul] “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.” — The background for this is the Lord’s table, but its directive is to those who were resentful of others — 1Co11:22-34.
[Peter] “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” (1Pe2:1,2)
We don’t always catch what Peter is saying. Where Peter speaks of the ‘pure milk’ of the word, he is speaking of milk that is unadulterated, that is, the pureness of God’s Word that is without mixture with the things that would defile it, that is, with malice, deceit, etc.
As a country boy I can give an example of what pure milk is not. In the south we have what is called bitter weeds. A cow will sometimes make these weeds part of her diet. If you drink milk from a cow who has eaten bitter weeds, believe me, you will spew the milk out of your mouth as quick as it entered. The milk is filled with bitterness. Yet the milk itself looked perfectly good.
There is a point to be made. Most bitterness is a result of not having forgiven someone. We carry the unforgiveness in our heart. It is not a matter of whether the person deserves forgiveness, or even if they have asked for forgiveness. It is a matter of keepings one’s own spiritual life pure.
There is much more to be said both from the Bible concerning forgiveness. The short side is that unless we learn to make peace with the past, we will indeed suffer in the now.
Are you free from the past? Is there something you need to let go?
Where do I begin?
Do you recall the ‘Serenity Prayer.’ Why not meditate on it. 
It is a good starting place. Here it is for your use right now.
Ok….
So, now about the old home place…
Certainly we all have childhood memories. Many of them are precious. Yet at the same time we have to move on with life. And while I truly do love our old home place, I also realize that time will take its toil.
And so our instructions from the Lord are as follows:
“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2Co5:1)
Anyway, I really do love to share stories from the Past. I’ve got outhouse stories, swinging on vine stories, water melon patch raiding stories — Well, I’ve got them by the tons.
Well, have you? Have you ever heard a mockingbird in the morning?
Much love coming your way,
Buddy
