As Christmas looms larger on our horizons, we might discover some childhood urge to behave or improve our attitudes. When I was a kid, we took seriously the musical admonition warning us to “…watch out, you better not cry…you better not pout, ‘cause I’m telling you why…” Santa Clause, etc. Legends abounded about “ashes and switches and bow-legged britches.” And the big boy down the street who wrote dirty words on the sidewalk, put away his chalk come early December. We all began to faithfully mind our parents and our manners during that season.
It was similar to the fear instilled in me when I attended worship before my feet could touch the floor below my pew. We always sat right behind Mrs. Mansell and just in front of Jesus holding his lamb in the stain glass window. During the winter, Mrs. Mansell always wore her two-headed fox fur stole with those beady black eyes staring right at me, daring me to make a move. The fear of God couldn’t hold an advent candle to that scary sabbath circumstance. That’s where and when I discovered the imaginative allure to get your mind off the things going on around you. You had to invent stuff to change your mindfulness in the moment. I found that the church bulletin was a veritable playground without foxes or shepherds. After drawing doodles, I discovered the other art of using the little golf pencil to fill in the big O’s. Then, I would go on to the little o’s. If I really got scared or bored, I would attack the big D’s. I was minding my manners and minding Mama by simply minding my O’s.
It was like minding your P’s and Q’s, the warning issued by British pub owners just before closing time. Mind your pints and quarts and finish drinking so we can close the joint. In the back pews of the church I’d be closing down my O’s before the benediction. To get ready to out run the lady with foxes on her shoulder. To look back at Jesus the shepherd until we would all meet again.
While my holy O endeavor was spiritual in nature, there was a practical outcome from the exercise: you would be prepared to take the SAT exam by filling the 0’s with a #2 pencil.