Making Mayberry

My kids love to watch "The Andy Griffith Show" in black-and-white, and I don't mind it one bit - in fact, I rather enjoy watching it also.

The one thing I think everyone loves about Mayberry is the peaceful, simpleness of it. And many of us wish we could live in Mayberry too...maybe it's because we ache to live in a place where kindness and goodness seem to be a way of life. Every day. 

Mayberry was a town so comfortable and calm that down-home Sheriff Andy Taylor hardly ever got to do any sheriff-ing. He mostly dispensed folksy wisdom to his motherless son, Opie, rode herd on his jittery sheriff deputy, Barney Fife, and helped his Mayberry townsfolk keep on the straight and narrow and neighborly.

I have come to realize that Mayberry can still be.... it just has to be wherever you are. You make Mayberry. We all do if we want it. And so it turns out, it is right here. - Rory Feek 

Here some things to remember to make Mayberry a reality wherever you are, right now.

Show Mercy... give someone a second chance. For example, in the words of Andy... “Suppose there was a little lake, and there was a sign on it saying, ‘No swimming allowed.’ Now that’s a law, and a law is pretty much the same thing as a rule, ain’t that right? Well, now, suppose there was a little boy, and he broke that law and went swimming anyway and started to drown. Now, suppose there was a fellow standing there watching. Now, should he obey the law and let that little boy drown, or should he break the law and save the little boy?”  Opie answers that the man couldn’t let the little boy drown, so Andy finishes up: 

“You see, son, rules are a very important thing, but sometimes they seem to get in the way when we’re trying to help somebody, so what we do in a case like that – we don’t exactly break them – we just bend them a little bit.”

Andy wants Opie to understand that while structure is important, the person is more important. If you see someone on the wrong path, it’s always better to help them than to just let them continue down the wrong path!

Live with Grace... things like tolerance, forgiveness, trust, helping each other, and just generally treating people with the same kind of respect you expect from them.

Value Other People... putting the needs and feelings of others ahead of your own and learning to be humble. 

Seek Peace with Others... it is important to have love, patience, and the ability to let things go. It means accepting people who are different from you, and it means looking for ways to resolve conflicts as often as possible.

Slow Down... the truth is that, for thousands of years, people have generally made a point of resting one day a week – it’s only really been in the last couple decades that this value has become more and more lost. The idea of a day of rest began because people wanted to honor the Ten Commandments found in the Bible, where God instructed his people to honor the Sabbath. (The word “Sabbath” literally means to cease working.) The point of slowing down, then, for many people including the citizens of Mayberry, is often not just to clear the mind, but also to reconnect with God and seek spiritual rejuvenation.

Honestly, to sum it all up... If you want Mayberry, read your bible, find God, live for Him, and you will find Mayberry. You make Mayberry!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. --Galatians 5:22-23