DEVOTIONAL –
HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER
Howdy Friends! They’d worked pretty much in silence that morning. The young boy was only on his first day there, and he hadn’t grasped the meaning of all this barn work. He threw his manure fork against the wall in rebellion, and sat in the corner on a broken bale.
“Lot ta do ain’t there.” Grandpop chuckled.
“I’m not doing anymore.” The boy barked back, and turned to face the corner.
Grandpop made a big deal about playing at the cleaning, then sat alongside the boy on the broken bale. “Life’s tough sometimes ain’t it.” Grandpop said with a not so hidden chuckle.
“What do you know?” The boy didn’t bother turn.
“Not much, I reckon.” Grandpop shuffled his feet in the sawdust. “Guess I just lived all these years not knowin’ much.” He not so carefully bumped the boys foot. “Maybe you can help me figure it out.”
“Why should I?” The boy shifted away from Grandpop. “I don’t wanna be here anyway.”
“I don’t always either,” Grandpop gave a crooked grin. “Where do you want to be?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s how that goes ain’t it? We know we don’t like where we are, but by golly we can’t figure out where’s better. Why is that?” Grandpop met the boy’s eyes.
“I don’t know. My parents are always telling me what to do, why I should do it their way.” He moved away. “Then they bring me here. For what?”
“You tell me,” Grandpop said.
“How do I know? They just don’t care.”
“Looks that way does it?”
“Yeah!”
“Do you trust them?” Grandpop asked.
“What?”
“Do you trust your parents?”
“That’s a stupid question. What’s that have to do with them dumping me off here for a week?” The boy’s voice trailed off.
“Did you ever hear of the commandment, “Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother?”
“Of course. What’s that got to with anything!” The boy had shifted toward Grandpop on the broken bale.
“Not much maybe. But the rest of that thought is, ‘That it might be well with you.’”
“Well with me?”
Grandpop smiled. “God gave us this that we would understand things we don’t. It’s His helping hand.” Grandpop took off his hat, rubbed his hair. “You see everything we do is generational, God plans things forever. For our good, to His honor.” He could see the boy was doubting. “Generational means one generation after another. Your parents, their parents, you and your sister. It’s all a line.”
“One affects the other?” The boys look brightened.
Grandpop could see the understanding beginning to take root. “There ya go,” he said. “How’s it do that? … Does it matter?”
The boy stood and paced the not yet cleaned stall. Stopped and kicked a pile of manure. “I guess it might mean what we do might matter?” He shrugged his shoulders.
Grandpop gave him a look that shouted, “and? …”
Frustration took root. “I don’t know!” The boy shouted. “It matters how you do stuff and act for others to see … I guess.” He sat down on the broken bale again. “So your parents can see you love them? … I don’t know.”
“Yeah, I think ya do.” Grandpop ruffled the lad’s hair. “Let’s finish these chores and do somethin’ fun.”
******************************************
Bible Verse: Ephesians 6:1-3~ Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
Bible Verse: Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ~ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Bible Verse: Proverbs 1:8-9 ~ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Bible Verse: Psalm 78:5-7~ For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.
