"Mayberry"

 A little North Carolina town,

Where we all knew the folk,

We learned many lessons there,

And laughed at every joke.

There was Gomer, Floyd, and Goober,

Barney, Opie, and Aunt Bee,

And Sheriff Andy Taylor,

We all tuned in to see.

The town drunk, Otis Campbell,

Rock-throwin’ Ernest T.,

Mayberry was a happy place,

And how things used to be.

Truth-telling was important,

And treating people right,

Giving help to one another,

When to and not to fight.

Yes, it was kind and gentle,

But always very strong,

It served us as a conscience,

Let us know when we were wrong.

That little town is gone now,

And we can’t get it back,

But every day we live our lives,

We can pray to stay on track.

And closer to the standard,

Set by scripture long ago,

We saw on television,

On that old down-home show.

I wonder if Mayberry,

Every really did exist,

At any time or any place,

And how could we have missed.

But I think it is inside us,

In every mother’s son,

Who’s longed for something peaceful,

Away from what we’ve done.

In cities and in small towns,

‘Bout everywhere you go,

You see something dark and evil,

Where we do not say no,

To the things we know are harmful,

We let all who want a place,

Sit right down beside us,

And give ‘em lots of space,

And then we are surprised to see,

The doing what they do,

With all the wrong behavior,

Too late the line we drew.

And what about the children,

Confused by what they’re told,

But we let it continue,

When we have the choice, we fold.

The spirit of Mayberry,

Points to what is true,

And by the grace of God above,

Should show us what to do.

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us…” (1 Peter 2:12, NIV)

God calls us to be different from people who don’t know Him. In spite of all our faults and failings, we are on a journey of transformation that manifests in good deeds. We do good things, not for recognition or to somehow compensate for past mistakes. We do good because of the goodness God has shown us. Someone has said if we truly love the Lord, the world will get the overflow. There is great truth here. There is definitely a place for proactive intentionality, but he bottom line is that walking with the Lord and being filled with the Spirit releases the life of Jesus through us. And Jesus went about doing good.

Lord, help us do things that will point unbelievers to You, in Jesus’ name.

Photo by Kirstie Lambert, used by permission. Thanks, Kirstie, and God bless you.