JIM WAS A little boy whose mother had died while he was quite young. On this occasion he was sailing a boat on the pond with a playmate much older than he was.
The boat had sailed a good way out in the pond, and the big boy said, “Go in, Jim, and get her. It isn’t over your ankles, and I’ve been in after her every time.”
“I daren’t,” said Jim. “I’ll carry her all the way home for you, but I can’t go in there; she told me not to.” “Who is she?” asked the elder boy. “My mother,” said Jim, softly.
“Your mother? Why, I thought she was dead,” said the big boy.
“That was before she died. Eddie and I used to come here and sail our boats, and she never let us come unless we had string enough to haul in with. I’m not afraid to go into the water, you know I’m not; only she didn’t want me to, and I can’t do it.”
Wasn’t it a beautiful spirit that made little Jim obedient to his mother even after she was dead? Children, there is a blessing in being obedient to your parents. The Bible says: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.” Prov. 1:8, 9.
Again, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” Eph. 6:1-3.
ML-12/09/1962