WIL...LHOTP!


Little House on the Prairie has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. To be perfectly honest I cannot recall the first time I ever saw an episode. They have engrained themselves so deeply into who I am and what I am about that there is not a beginning or ending point to the thread sewn through my tapestry. I thank God that I was born in a time for a show like LHOTP and I thank God that He allowed Michael Landon to create such great work. They have created many great loves in my heart and many profound memories in my life. My sister Michelle says that I often spout LH philosphy. It is just a HUGE part of who I am.

I have just recently received my last box set in the LH series, and now I have all LHOTP episodes on DVD. What a huge blessing!

LHOTP gave me a love for the old West. I know it is very romanticized in this program, but I don't care. It also gave me a great love for film and television and what it really meant to create quality family programming. I also derived my hero, Melissa Gilbert, from the mix. A gift that just keeps on giving.

The heartbeat of the show resides in me. You can literally, or at least I can literally, watch an episode and feel better. It's like therapy for me in many ways.

I was watching the Christmas episodes of LH and I just love the way Mr. Landon thought of things. Such as "The Christmas at Plum Creek" where the whole Christmas Story is told from a child's, Carrie's, perspective. It's the true meaning of Christmas too...not gift giving. At the end Carrie has bought a star that goes on top of the tree for baby Jesus and as she stares up at the star, her long eyelashes bouncing, she says with great joy, "Happy Birthday baby Jesus!" and 'Joy to the World' begins to play in the background. It is simply PRICELESS!

You would laugh, cry, get mad, feel bad, basically run the gamut of emotions within one episode. Most of the poignant moments in the series for me are often the sad ones. When Mary goes blind...what a moving piece. You actually can feel what it would be like to go blind. When Carrie falls down a well and Caroline believes that the walls have fallen in on her and she lays her head on the ground just to be near her daughter...how breathtaking and heartbreaking. The moments where you cannot mistake God's power in things...such as when Isaiah is hurt by a falling tree and loses hope, and Charles prays for a way to help him and a deer walks in his path. Charles shoots his gun to scare the deer away and the deer doesn't move...God sent the deer so that Charles could act like he was hurt to inspire Isaiah to live. Or who can forget Jonathan the angel sent to care for Laura as she goes to a mountain to pleed for God to take her instead of her brother.

There are also many funny moments. One of my favorites is when Laura and Andrew are trying to catch Creeper and they place a bucket of green paint outside the barn door and it falls on Charles. When they go to church on Sunday the good Reverand begins his sermon "He maketh them lie down in green pastures..." but can't finish because he is laughing so hard.

Some of my favorites as a child were the Halloween episode where Laura thinks Mr. Olsen chopped off Mrs. Olsen's head and the time that Laura stole Nellie's music box and thinks that she will be sent to prison and then hung for what she has done.

No matter what your taste you could find something you liked about LH.

I am blessed beyond measure that these beloved stories have come into my life. I have just begun to read the stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder that the LH series is based on. I have read several biographies on Laura and Rose Wilder. I plan, if God allows, in the Summer of 2008 to hopefully take a LH road trip to visit the landmarks of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

So, you ask why I love this show so much. It brings joy. It is wholesome. It shares with us the true heartbeat of love, family, friends, neighbors and our merciful and powerful God.

I LOVE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE!!!! It simply is the best.

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