This is not my front porch. It is a front porch. But the view is not too different from mine. I like front porches. They aren’t as popular as they once were. Maybe it’s because we have so little time to come and sit a spell, talk things over with friends, or just simply stop and look at the world around us.
A front porch is for sitting and we do precious little of that. We are busy! We hurry here; we rush there; so many things to do, so many places to go that it can be overwhelming. The front porch? Well, it ignores it all. “Come aside and rest a minute,” it says. “Things will get done anyway.” And, you know what? They do.
Inside each of us is a place that yearns for peace. The world is in a tumult. Sometimes it seems to be spinning out of control and we spin right along with it. Front porches, whether real or imaginary, are essential to peace of mind. And front porches are for looking out, seeing neighbors or strangers go by and sending them on their way with a whispered prayer and for looking up to Heaven and thanking God for His blessings.
Just between you and me, let me confide that at times I go back to Ma and Pappy Latty’s front porch at Etta Bend. How can I do that when the house isn’t even there any more and if it were, it would be nearly a hundred miles away? Well, I close my eyes and remember. The porch is cool and shady, the rocking chair is comfortable. I see past the rock steps at the foot of the yard. I see across the road to Pappy’s barn, the spring house, the creek. I see the pasture with my grandpa’s hay rake sitting there, waiting to be used. And I see the sun just beginning to slip above the trees that separate the farm from the river. It’s a pleasant place, that front porch, and it’s there waiting for me, any time I want to come and sit a spell.
A cup of coffee, a comfortable chair, and a welcoming porch., breathing space in a too-busy world.
“And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (I Kings 19:12). _________________________________________
Blanche’s cozy mysteries are at http://pen-l.com/Mystery.html
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Blanche+Day+Manos and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/blanche+day+manos?fs=0&_requestid=160065
Front porches are where you find them!
Wonderful post, Blanche. It takes me back to my parents sitting on their front porch in the evenings while all of us kids were running around playing with each other and our friends. Sometimes neighbors would come and visit them on the porch.
The world is in too much of a rush these days. I agree, the front porch does give us peace of mind.
Thanks for writing, Susan. Isn’t it wonderful to have those front porch memories?
This is what I need this morning. It took me right back to my Great Aunts front porch and the swing. We spent hours on that porch. Good memories. I think we all.need to sit and listen to God’s still small voice. Thanks.for.the.reminder Blanche.l
Thanks for writing, Deb. It’s really neat that we have so many front porch memories.
I have great memories of our front porch when I was growing up. In the summer we’d sit and
watch thunder storms and the rain. On sunny afternoons we’d shuck peas or hull strawberries.
And play lots of games off the porch. Yep, front porches are wonderful.
I remember seeing a picture of a house that you said was like yours, Peg. It certainly had a beautiful front porch. Thanks for writing.