REFLECTIONS

Lessons Honored

We resist it every day, that bit of change that happens. We become attached to and seek to protect “the good ole days” while acting paradoxically to mark those very days with something new, different, and better.

It would be a dull world without change, and maybe that is God’s reason for it and for including us in the effort. Still, some things must be preserved.

History of course doesn’t change, but lessons from it can be lost. Teach the events of the past to your children, but especially the lessons from them. History captures events in the context of traditions and circumstances surrounding them. But it’s the lessons from them that benefit the life choices that lay ahead.

Telling alone doesn’t teach. Knowledge of something benefits nothing unless it is practiced in the flow of life. Unpracticed knowledge is no more than theory and analysis viewed from a distance.

Mother’s Day is a tradition to honor—not only to express love to Mom, but also to add to memories of those earlier days you still hold dear. When we fail to honor our traditions not only are they lost, but the values taught by them perish too. And that’s the point Moses makes in the challenge delivered to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:9.

So parents, live the lessons with your children and with their children after them. The values taught from the past rest in the lessons you honor.

And children, pay attention to those lessons. Use them to guide you through your journey through this world. Over time, those good ole’ days may still change a bit, but when it’s your turn to lead your children, follow the lessons honored by your past, remembering:

When you teach your children, you teach your children’s children.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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