March 15, 2021 – Advice from Dad and Mom

         What advice do I wish I had taken from my Dad and Mom?  That is an interesting question, and difficult to answer.  “Must” and “Ought” were words I often heard growing up.  Advice wasn’t something I heard, but Shalts and Thou shalt not.  When I turned five years old, my            Mother sent me to the neighbors on an errand. There on the porch I saw a treasure.  A rubber band.

I picked it up and stretched more than anything I ever saw.  Then Mom saw me playing and asked me where I found it.  I told her and she didn’t give me advice.  She simply said, “It isn’t yours to take.  You go back to the neighbors, knock on the door and give it back.  Tell her you are very sorry.

As I grew older, Mother had two other avenues to teach me. She used questions and the solos she chose for me to learn and sing. The Lord’s Prayer, I Walked Today where Jesus Walked, Goin’ Home,  The Holy City, Eye Hath Not Seen, Let There Be Peace on Earth, God Shall Wipe Away All Tears, Thanks Be to God, The Lost Chord, Open the Gates of the Temple, plus many Christmas Songs.

As a teen I walked into the kitchen where Mom was making breakfast.  I switched on the light. Mom interrupted her cooking to turn to me with a smile on her face and asked, “You love the light, don’t you?” The quizzical look on her face puzzled me.  Why work in half light when a bright light was available?  Now each time I turn on the light or see a flash of lightning, I think of her question.  Recently I heard a sermon from this Scripture, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12.  Although Mom has been gone for twenty-three years now, but I still remember that day!

       In Elementary School, my nemesis was math class. That one year, math seemed so redundant, and over and over, adding and subtracting, dividing and multiplying.  Dad tried to explain it to me when I was in the first grade and it seemed like a mysterious world.  Finally, the procrastination  resulted in an ‘F’ on the report card.  With fear and wondering how my Dad would react.  Finally the moment came. I handed the report card to Dad, and he responded in a way I never expected.  He cried.

I remembered as I taught sixth grade math as an adult.  I had help from my boys, when I taught how to use a protractor. When I explained how I taught it the first day, they gently explained, and I went back to the classroom and untaught and retaught the right way.

I decided that Advice is just that, until it becomes a real action of obedience.  God didn’t give us advice in His Holy Word. He gave commands. In order to please Him, we learn to obey His Commands.

 For to the one who please Him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner, He has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. Ecclesiastes 2:26.

Children obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  Colossians 3:20.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.  I John 3:21-23