Yesterday we read the account of a loving father who upon realizing that his days on this earth were numbered, gathered his sons together to counsel them one last time. His dying wish was for his sons that were righteous to be steadfast in their ways, and for his sons that weren’t to turn their lives around.
As I reflected on the last wishes of this father, my thoughts were drawn not only to my own father but also to my sons. Like the father in this account, my father has guided his children through calm as well as some pretty rough waters and has remained unwavering in his love for us. So when that time comes, will my father leave this world in peace knowing that his children are good people? Or will his mind be troubled about some of us? Have we turned out the way he’d hoped?
On the other hand (not to sound morbid or anything like that), if it was me on my deathbed, what would my last wishes for my sons be? I know that I too want them to be honorable and righteous in the sense that they’ll always try to do the right thing, treating others as they would want to be treated, and to be happy. I want them to be rich and successful too of course, and to be loved deeply and faithfully and to love that special someone the same way. I want all that for my sons but mostly I want them to be happy and to be good men.
I’m sure that every father and mother wish the same for their children, we all want our sons and daughters to be honest men and women. In other words, to do what we’ve tried to teach them. But what if they don’t? What if our teenagers and adult children follow a different path? What if their choices make them less than the kind of men or women we’d hoped they’d be?
I’m not talking about expecting and raising our kids to be doctors and they end up an artist or something else. That’s not an issue at all as far as I’m concerned. Our children should be able to choose what it is that they want to become when they grow up. I’m asking what a parent can and should do when their son or daughter is like the rebellious sons in the account we read yesterday.
Like this wise father, we can and should continue to love our children. We can and should continue to counsel them when they’re ready to hear us, and most importantly, never give up on them. And when we feel as if we can’t do this anymore or give them yet another chance, remember that we too were given and continue to be given many chances!
