vivinolavita

I grew up on a farm in a small town in west Texas. Family, school, church. Simple.

CHURCH was a very big deal. My dad built the church. Potlucks. Easter sunrise services. Choir. Sunday school. Grape juice and tiny crackers. Uncle Frank grudgingly dropping a penny into the collection plate.

That beautiful church is struggling. My 88-year old parents are the remaining members. The last time I went to church with them, there were 6 of us, including the visiting minister and his wife. The same picture of Jesus still hangs over the communion table. The organ I played is still there but no one plays it any more.

I’ve been going through old church records and am touched by the handwritten details. Who was in attendance that Sunday. Who was baptized. Who’s in charge of the monthly potluck. Who will lead the singing. A constant search for another preacher. And Dovie Beene.

Tiny, no husband, no children. Dedicated. Dovie had a most impressive Sunday school perfect attendance pin collection. Worn proudly each Sunday – pinned to her Sunday-best outfit. I could never live up to Dovie’s perfect attendance pins. Who could, really?

Perfect Attendance. Have I ever attended to anything – perfectly?

Perfect. “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.” “she strove to be the perfect wife”
synonyms: ideal, model, without fault, faultless, flawless, consummate, quintessential, exemplary, best, ultimate

I don’t know if Dovie was “perfect” in her day-to-day life. I believe she was “perfect” in God’s eyes. But she attended Sunday school every Sunday, year after year after year after year. She had all the required or desirable elements, qualities and characteristics to earn all her perfect attendance pins. She was as good as it was possible to be at attending Sunday school.

By narrowing down “perfection” to something attainable and identifiable, maybe I can achieve perfect attendance. Even for a moment. Today.