Miss Conception

When I was a child we always had Sunday breakfast together as a family before we would all go to church. My dad wasn't much of a talker. I think it was mostly from years of my mother cutting down everything he said. Anyhow, when I would come to the breakfast table my dad would always say "Here she is miss _________" and he would fill in the blank with something funny like: miss ellanious, miss chevious, miss terious, or whatever would work together with "miss" as the prefix.
However, I never recall him saying "Here she is miss conception". It would have sounded really weird if he had and my child-like mind at the time would not have been able to figure out what it meant. Now as an adult, I would love to hear him say it, especially this morning because that is exactly how I feel after attending a wedding last evening.
We were invited to a wedding for the daughter of a family that had left our church years ago. I don't think they left for the best of reasons, but I hold absolutely no ill feelings towards them at all. My daughter and I were delighted to go to the wedding. It would be nice to see old friends once again. What surprised me the most was how many times these old friends told me that they were surprised that I would come. Wow, did I ever hear my dad say (in my head, of course) "Here she is Miss Conception."
I once attending the church were this wedding was held. I was a very active member there from 1976-1980. I met my beloved husband there and together we served the Lord. We left the church after some really nasty stuff took place with the pastor. We were young and didn't know how to correctly deal with the conflict, so we joined the church we now attend. For the last 29 years we have served in our church and have grown spiritual by leaps and bounds. There have been times when we were tempted to just up and leave, but never did we have the Lord's blessing. So, we have stayed and God has blessed us richly because of it.
When Jerry and I got married, it was for life. When things got rough and we were tempted to walk away, it was commitment that kept us going. It is the same way with our church membership. We are commited to the Lord and to His church. If there are problems, we seek the Lord and His will, and try to do what God would want us to do.
Do I fault the folks who left our church years ago? Do I hold any bad feelings towards them? Not is the least. I am just so thankful to God that these folks still love and serve the Lord. I know of way too many people who have left not only our church, but also our Saviour, and are now live only for themselves.
I am glad that I went to this marriage. It was good to see old friends again. And I hope that Miss Conception can go away and never come back again.