Of Coffee, Fika, and Family Ties

Ruth 1:15-17

21st Century King James Version (KJ21)

15 And she said, “Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law.”

16 And Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

17 Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”

I married into a family, proud of their Swedish heritage, and happily carrying on the tradition of fika, coffee with sweets.  It is just simply good and right to sit down and celebrate a coffee break.  They are lovely and welcoming even to a non-coffee drinker like me without a trace of scandinavian blood.  My own family also drinks coffee, but, I believe, it's more for the caffeine to get their motors started.  From what I've seen my Swedish family would still be industrious even without coffee.  I once watched a sister-in-law and family move a large, truckload sized, pile of dirt in order to camp a few feet closer to the water.  They do things right where I'd settle for close enough.  I do love them even if I don't always get them.   I spent a little time talking to the young man who lives in my house but doesn't want to be blogged about about his father's side of the family.  He may look like me, but he certainly has the Swedish blood.  He drinks coffee too.  

I enjoyed this YouTube video of Evie Tornquist singing "It Only Takes a Spark" at a Seattle Billy Graham rally in Seattle.  It did take me back to my youth group days.  

Evie Tornquist - It Only Takes A Spark † Pass It On ( 1976 )