As a child, sitting with Mammaw and Pappaw (that’s Ma’am—Aww & Pap—Aww for those of you who aren’t from the south) during the Sunday morning sermon was one of my favorite things to do. Two reasons. First, she always had either a peppermint or butterscotch hard candy in her purse. And second, she let me draw in her small spiral notepad that she kept with her. Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to all those notepads? It would sure be nice to go back and flip through them. But that’s a story for another day. Back to where I was going with this…
When I was small, and probably up to an age that was inappropriate, I would leave our pew on the second to last row, crawl under the next two, and pop up on their row. I would ask for candy and pen and paper and she would hurriedly and quietly dig through her purse. She would always tell me to sit still and be quiet as she handed me the note pad. She would often say “Now Deron, be sure to listen to the preacher while you’re drawing”. It’s funny how you can remember things like that. She was stern, but compassionate all at the same time in only the way a grandmother can be.
I’m sure that I never listened, well, let’s go with rarely listened, while I drew or wrote letters and numbers or played tic-tac-toe with my cousin Jason. And I’m sure that she was well aware that I wasn’t listening, yet gave me the pen and paper each time anyway. Before the service would end, I would put everything back in her purse and scurry back under the pews to Mom and Dad.
Fast forward 34 or 35 years and I guess some things never change. Well, I haven’t crawled under pews in a while, but I do still like to draw in church, albeit in a slightly different way. I guess I have always doodled while I’m sitting still listening in church or meetings or while I’m talking on the phone. It helps with concentration. I’ve not tied it back to those early years and drawing on Mammaw’s notepad until a few Sunday’s ago. We we’re sitting in the morning service, and as usual, I was “drawing” on the program. Side note, it’s not my fault when Calvary gives you a blank notecard each morning. I mean, it’s to be expected, right? Anyway, so we’re sitting there and Shere’ (jokingly) says, “You know, you shouldn’t draw in Church.” I didn’t say anything at the time, but all I could think of was being a kid again being told to pay attention to the preacher. All I could do was smile.
As you can see, my “drawings” aren’t exactly drawings, but more of my own way of taking notes and remembering what is being discussed. My way of “listening to the preacher”. I would give anything to be able to crawl under the pews and pop up to see Mammaw and Pappaw one more time. To get a peppermint and write her a note in her book, but until that day… I’ll keep “drawing” during the sermon and thinking of her each time.
