Tiny Devotional for Monday, 11/23/2020

A great good morning to my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped in, thanks for teaching me to mind my own business.

Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.
Proverbs 23:26, NASB
A First-born Son and His First-Born Son

 All of Proverbs 23 may be regarded as parental advice. In at least TEN verses, that’s made explicit by talking about fathers, mothers, and children.

It’s GOOD advice! (Take as directed; do not exceed dosage, etc.)

I LOVE verse 26 the best. I actually blogged on it, 2771 days ago. 

The reason for my affection comes from one of the WORST, but well-intentioned, phrases I heard as a child. Are you ready for this?

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

I would give much to be able to sit down and have an adult conversation with my father and step-father (separately, of course) about this phrase, and about another that is possibly related:

“I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

I don’t think the second phrase is nearly as poisonous as the first; but, context matters. 

Also, I JUST asked my three biologically-related adult children if I ever said either of those things to them; results may appear in the COMMENTS section.

The verse is directed toward the son, but it truly speaks to the father. 

We MUST not be stupid in our attitudes and behavior. You can’t fool a dog with courteous words, if you are brandishing a stick; and, at some indeterminate age, kids reach dog-level awareness.

Give me your heart, my son. I promise I will care for it.

Let your eyes delight in my ways, because I have tested them by God’s standard.


Peace be on your household.


Comments

  1. Habakkuk21November 23, 2020 at 6:15 AM

    I have the responses back from my three biologically-related adult children.
    Statement 1 (the toxic one): All three agree that they never heard me say "Do what I say, not what I do." Whew! That's a relief!
    Statement 2 (which, depending on context, is not necessarily toxic): All three agree that they DID hear this from me, in some form; might have been "learn from my mistakes."
    My firstborn son, the retired Army sergeant, added some other commentary about oft-heard phrases.
    BEGIN REPORT::
    NO "Do as I say not as I do"?

    Nothing resonates in that phrasing although my siblings may be more reliable in memory recall than I am for this phrase. "Because I said so?" Yes. Millions of times.

    YES "I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did."

    "Break the curse", "Next right thing", "If it isn't broken, poking through the skin or bleeding uncontrollably, you stay outside", etc. are also in this category of frequently used.

    ::END REPORT

    I cannot materially disagree with anything he said.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tiny Devotional for Wednesday, 06-21-2023

Image
A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, the Fairmount Pattersons are Papa-sitting this morning! It is better to live in a corner of a roof Than in a house shared with a contentious woman. Proverbs 21:9, NASB Today is the 21st of the month; so, Proverbs 21. I have written about verses 1-8;  it’s verse 9’s turn. Thus, my selection of this verse has NOTHING to do with my wife, mother, sisters, or daughters! All of them are intelligent, confident, and assertive; they are NOT contentious. ‘Contentious’ does NOT mean ‘has a different opinion’!  A man who has lived with a contentious woman gives the definition by example: I was 20 years old, and stupid (those might be the same thing).  I thought our marriage would work because she was beautiful, and I was, too. It didn’t take long before I realized I was wrong about that. Most of the time, it didn’t matter what I did; I couldn’t please her. We were married for 3 years,
Read more

Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 08-20-2023

Image
A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, Piper doesn’t like her food. Differing weights and differing measures, Both of them are abominable to the Lord. Proverbs 20:10, NASB If this verse weren’t so important, I’d skip it, because I discovered it in a painful time. Others were involved, and their stories are not mine to tell. So, you get a parable: Stockman Bubba ran a cattle station, in partnership with his horse, Nancy. They worked hard together, and although they were not rich, they had achieved a degree of success. One day, a platypus stung Bubba, incapacitating him. Bubba tried to continue running the station, but after two years had passed, he realized it was time to retire. Nancy couldn’t adjust to this, and she left for life on her own. Three years later, Bubba realized Nancy was never coming back, and considered getting another horse. However, he was concerned that the other station owners would think bad
Read more

Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 07-23-2023

Image
 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, reach for the sky. Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always. Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18, NASB Today’s verse is 18, but I included 17, because I THINK they are a couplet. I wrote about verse 17 last month, and will try not to repeat myself. Our senses describe the present, our memory describes the past; the future is described by our hopes and our fears. In this little verse, we are given one of the strongest foundations for peace: yes, you DO have a future, and it’s a good one. Under most circumstances, we take the future for granted. If you have ever been forced to doubt that a future exists, you know how chilling that is. ‘No future’ is MUCH worse than ‘bad future.’ This verse draws us back away from the abyss of nothingness, and back into reality: yes, you DO have a future.  (If that
Read more