Today's Devotional

November 14, 2002

Subject:  As "Bad" As I Had It

 Romans 13:8 - "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:  for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."  

I'm sure you've all probably received this email, but I make a point after it's over, so read on:

Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.  For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches.  I really would.  I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.  And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister.  And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

Okay, so it goes on and on, and I'm sure you get the point by now.  At the end of it all, Paul Harvey asks the question, "What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you'll die?

The answer:  "Nothing"

The verse for today can be applied to our children as well.  In our competing world, we have struggled to give our kids the best of everything, forgetting that the best of everything is love itself.  Most children will not grow up wishing that they had another "Big Wheel" or "Barbie Doll" when they were young.  No, most children will cherish the time spent with their parents or the important mother/father figures who played that role.

Today, I think about how, with pride, I can talk about how "bad" I had it.  Now I can see that it was simply love in all of its forms.  Love sacrificing, Love disciplining, Love nurturing, Love giving, Love waiting, Love caring and everything else that love represents.  It actually wasn't until I was about 30 years old that I finally realized that, "hey, we didn't have as much stuff as the other kids when we were young".  I never missed it and I still don't today.  If you got all the love you could handle, but lacked material prosperity as a child, make sure your children get it as "bad" as you had it.

Carlen