My first book, “What if You Choose a Regret Free Life” (www.myronmullins.com) is weeks away from release. And God has placed two more books on my heart, one of which is my experiences as a boy and young man with ‘my people,’ from Rockcastle County, Ky, aka Appalachia. I am so excited to share my memories and priceless life lessons learned in those hollers. Today I recollect a little.

You’re blessed beyond measure if you have experienced the blue haze of coal smoke drifting across a holler when the wind is down and the morning still. As that blue smoke drifted down that narrow path it met and merged with the smoke being emitted from the next, then the next and yet again, the next in a community of small homes that made up the residents and life in hollers dotting the landscape of Appalachia, KY.

If you’ve marked time by the distant whistle of the train passing the holler, emitting a lonely, yet affirming sound as it crossed the single road that connected you to your relatives and friends who have been the community for ‘as long as anyone can remember,’ you have been blessed.

If you’ve heard the clacking of the mules shoes in the gravel or pavement of the road that centers the holler, you have been blessed with the peace that comes from the simple noise that confirms community. As that wagon drawn by a team of mules or draft horses came by you were sure to get a wave and most likely a half shouted, half grunted “hallo,” commonly known today as ‘hello.’

If you were walking down the road that connected the ends and center of ‘your’ holler, you would likely see a relative or someone ‘who had been close to you’ your entire life as you walked. The walk interrupted by conversation asking how you are, how your mama or daddy is, etc. You would always be offered a ride in the car or truck if room, or in the back of the truck or wagon.

You have been blessed beyond blessed if you have stepped outside on a crisp winter night and listened to the quiet and stillness roaring through that little holler that has been your family’s home for generations. As you have looked up to witness the stars and planets uninterrupted by the invasion of city lights and the noise made by modern man, you saw God’s workmanship in all it’s glory, minus the ‘gains’ of a society quickly fleeing the community that you were blessed to call normal.

If you’ve listened to the conversations and laughter over soup beans, cornbread made in a hot cast iron skillet, collard greens, sawmill gravy, homemade biscuits whose rows went on for what seemed like miles, chicken fried in Crisco, beans cooked with a ham bone, salad peas (that did not go in a salad), sorghum poured on a hot biscuit, food that had been ‘put up,’ apple butter from the prior year’s apples, you have been immeasurably blessed.

If you’ve experienced the surrendering of a holler’s resident to Heaven (or tragically some to Hell that rejected the Father’s Son) at an Appalachian funeral and witnessed many ladies so distraught that the result was fainting, while the men spoke of harvests, tobacco prices, who was not doing well, and on and on, you’ve been denied one of life’s examples of genuine care and community.

If you’ve seen a community defined by the outside World as living a subsistence life, give to those in need. Care for those needing cared for. Rally around those dealing with ‘hard times.’ Pray morning, noon and night for those sick, abandoned, imprisoned by alcohol or other addictions, or any number of challenges. Be the breathing, living, acting example of the widow that Jesus said gave more out of her poverty than those who gave out of wealth (Matthew 12:41-44). Be the day to day example of the second part of the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36-40), you have been blessed.

If you have never ridden the ice cold seat of an outhouse in winter. Carried the pee pot outside for dumping. Heard the whippoorwills call as the sun went down. Watched an Appalachian woman dispatch a poisonous snake with a hoe. Seen a mule pull a single-blade plow and turn the ground. Had cars drive by and wave and sometimes holler, “hello.” Experienced the heat of a full coal burning stove and the cold of a stove whose contents had ‘burnt down.’ If you have never gone to a ‘dinner on the ground’ at the local Protestant church (most likely Pentecostal, Church of God or Baptist). If you have never experienced the stories and laughter as sorghum (sorghum molasses if you’re from Appalachian KY) was ‘cooked.’ If you have never laughed poverty, unknown, future, situation in the face…I wish you would have experienced what I experienced as a child and young man. I am blessed.

I have moved into the final 1/3 of my life with so much to share and give. What was taken for granted is now treasured in my heart and I want to share with you the amazing journey and joy that made up those formative years in Crooked Creek and Brindle Ridge, (Appalachia) Ky. Those slow days moved and left so quickly. Those dull experiences, now the precious memories of my life. The incredible blessings that are my life experiences are not taken for granted. As I share them with you, my hope and my prayer is my memories stimulate your life’s memories, framing the bad as learning and the good as priceless gifts from an ever-loving Father in Heaven. God is so good in all things, especially when we question if there is any good around us.

You’ve got this.