“Children’s children are a crown to the aged and parents are the pride of their children.”
– Proverbs 17:6
Hi James and Ellen,
If strive and fighting comes with always having plenty of food on your table to eat and peace and quiet comes with only having dry bread crusts to eat, would you opt for always having feasts or would you opt for always being hungry? Proverbs 17 starts out with the proverbs’ author saying that the better place to live is a place that releases harmony and tranquility instead of a place that unleashes dissonance and hostility. What kind of place do you live? Your grandmaa and grandpaa grew up in homes were peace and quiet were generally the norm. Your grandpaa did not think twice about doing something that your grandpaa’s dad asked him to do. Your grandpaa knew that there would be some sort of consequence if he did not do what your grandpaa’s dad asked him to do. Your grandpaa never found out what the repercussion would be if . . . do you always do things to please your dad because you do not want your dad to punish you? Your grandpaa does not remember when he did not have chores to do. How would you like to milk a couple of cows every day by hand, clean out the barn’s gutter, haul straw for bedding, throw down silage from a silo for the cows, make slop for the pigs and fill up a wagon with cobs? Your grandmaa had chores that she had to do. How would you like to dust and wax the furniture, mop the floors, keep everything neat looking in the house, help wash the dishes, iron clothes and make pastries? Have your dad and ma given you chores that they are expecting that you will do? If your dad and ma have given you chores that they are expecting that you will do, do you do these chores without at times wishing that you did not have to do the chores that they are expecting you to do? Do you think that a dad and ma are being mean to their kids when they assign chores that they expect their kids to do? Do you think that it is a good thing for dads and mas to dole out chores to their kids for them to do or do you think that dads and mas are sometimes just using their kids to do work that they do not want to do?
Solomon – who is author of this chapter of proverbs, is one of David’s kids. By the time that Solomon is old enough to do chores, Solomon’s dad has amassed so much wealth that there probably are enough servants on his dad’s payroll to do whatever work that needs to be done. Your grandpaa believes that because Solomon has been embedded with super wisdom – which Solomon asked for when he was given the opportunity by God to ask for whatever he wanted, Solomon was able to employ retrospective and introspective proverbs or adages to pass on to guys, gals and kids what he learned from his own life foibles and the life shortcomings that he was observing in other guys, gals and kids. What do you think are some of the factors that lead to some kids becoming respectful and wise while other kids become disrespectful and foolish? How do you feel when you have a lot of free time on your hands? Do you become bored? What do you do when you have a lot of free time on your hands? Do you look for something to do in the arena of work that will help your dad and ma? What do you think is a driving factor that leads a kid when he or she becomes a guy or gal to become a malicious guy or gal who uses lies to get his or her way? Do you think that a kid when he or she becomes a guy or gal will reflect sometimes what the ambiance was like in his or her home? Do you think that if a kid hears his or her dad and/or ma always mocking poor guys, gals and kids, that the kid will also be probably mocking poor guys, gals and kids when he or she gets to be a guy or gal? How do you think that a kid learns to be rebellious or quarrelsome if his or her dad and ma are not rebellious or quarrelsome?
Your grandpaa believes that chores are catalysts that help to entrench healthy restraints and positive disciplines in the life of a kid during his or her formative years. Doing chores is a tangible show of submission. Doing chores is practicing being obedient. Doing chores points towards wisdom. Doing chores helps mute an arrogant spirit. Doing chores helps overcome a lazy spirit. Doing chores aids in curbing a greedy spirit. Your grandpaa believes that if the environ in the home of a kid includes perversion, bribery, bitterness, adversity and folly, the kid’s life will exhibit these same tendencies. Your grandpaa believes that if a kid’s home environ includes astute discernment, judicious rebuking, prudent trusting, enduring patience and joyful gratefulness, the kid’s life will exude these same attributes. So – are you on a track that will have your grandmaa and grandpaa saying what verse 6 says, “Children’s children are a crown to the aged and parents are the pride of their children.” or are you on a track that will have you give your dad grief, that will destroy any joy that your dad has and that will crush your dad’s bones? Your grandpaa believes that Solomon’s random proverbial statements are experientially based – that Solomon’s life base line was built from life experiences that ranged from having done some things that could only be equated as being totally foolish things to do to having done some things that could only be seen in the light of being the completely right things to do. Just as Solomon knew, your grandmaa and grandpaa know that a kid will at times bend the truth, puff out his or her chest and push his or her case. Your grandmaa and grandpaa are hoping and praying that you are already internalizing the eternal importance of paying back evil with good, detesting the acquitting of culpable guys and gals and reacting even-temperately in every relationship. Your grandpaa knows that he still has a lot to learn what he needs to learn.
Proverbs 17 (1084)