“But, Mother,” I insisted, “I don’t want to go.”
Mother was kind about it, but there was no use arguing with her. “Yes,” she said, “Mrs. Dunn wants you, and you must go.”
I was remembering the dark little room in which the poor old lady lived alone, without much money or any family to cheer her. I tried another argument.
“I’ll go if you will come with me,” I said. But nothing changed my mother’s mind. I had to go see the old lady today, and I had to go alone.
We had few spare pennies in our house even for Mother, and for me there were none at all. So, the only way to get to Mrs. Dunn’s place was to walk, and it was a chilly March day in Canada. I was grumpy, and I did not want to go.
Life has some hard things to do. Have you found it that way? I later learned the story of a man named Moses who had things to do that were much harder than mine. But the Bible says “he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Hebrews 11:2626Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. (Hebrews 11:26)). That means that he thought about the reward ahead for him. He left a king’s palace to go off into the desert, with no money at all because he cared more about the riches of the eternal God than he did about what he left behind. In fact, he left because his faithfulness to God rather than to the king had made the king angry.
When I started off to visit Mrs. Dunn, nobody was angry with me. So why was I grumpy? Do you become grumpy if you are asked to do something you don’t want to do? Do you know that God will reward obedience, if you do it for Him? God says, “Children, obey your parents” (Ephesians 6:11Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1)). God will reward you, if you obey your parents. He also said, “Honor [your] father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise)” (Ephesians 6:22Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) (Ephesians 6:2)). Honoring your parents is so important that God promised good things to those who did it. You can see what is promised in Exodus 20:1212Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12).
When I got to her house that chilly March day, Mrs. Dunn had a surprise for me. She knew that my birthday was coming up soon, and she gave me a whole dollar! One hundred pennies, all for me! That was the reason she wanted me to come, and I never guessed it. Suddenly all of my grumpiness was gone, and I ran all the way home.
“Mother,” I shouted, “she gave me a dollar!”
That dollar was special to me, but the reward God will give you if you obey Him will be much better than a dollar.
Messages of God’s Love 6/22/2025