Today's Devotional

April 21, 2005

Subject:  Ask Dad

Deuteronomy 32:7 - "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee."

Last year my father had a stroke.  Since that time, on my occasional visits home, there is a great deal more dialog than in past times.  Often I get up and run him to the local store to get a cup of coffee.  During the drive he tells me about the ills of the world and how we must address them.  Sometimes it's humorous to hear such simple truths and how they are expressed.  Here is one example from a recent trip.  We were stopped at the bank's drive thru.  Here they have the device that contains your bank documents in a tube that when deposited goes underground and into the bank.  As we sat in one line conducting our business, a repairman was working on one of the adjacent devices.  My dad looked over at him, looked back at me and asked the question, "do you know why he's working on that?"  Thinking that the answer had to be deeper than my obvious reply of it being broken, I simply responded, "no, why is he working on that?"  His answer, "because he can.  He knows what he's doing."  His point - you've got to know what you're doing if you're going to undertake an endeavor.

It has taken me quite a few years to realize the wisdom gained from much living.  The verse above says, "consider the years of many generations."  That's the benefit that our parents, grandparents and older friends and relatives bring to us when we understand wisdom.  The verse also says, "ask thy father...and thy elders."  I personally think God has equipped many of them with the ability to speak more as they get older, which is to our benefit.  

On our morning drives to get coffee, I seldom have to say much, but it's good to know that I can "ask dad" and he's always got an answer.  That avails me to generations of information.  

Carlen