[199 words]
How many of us heard our fathers make the statement: “If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?” Of course, we were being scolded for doing something dangerous or hurtful. That’s when we offered our excuse: “but everyone was doing it.”
As soon as those words hit my father’s ears, he would have an answer. “If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you?”
I hated that saying. It basically meant that all my friends were idiots and I was an idiot for doing what they did.
Then I became a father.
One day, one of my children asked to do something that I knew was ill-advised. That’s when I said, “no.” Then my child said those words I’d said so many years ago: “But Dad, everyone’s doing it.”
Guess what I replied?
“If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?” Then, I realized that my dad’s voice was coming out of my mouth. As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to understand how wise he really was.
The truth is, a Godly person listens to his or her parent’s wisdom. “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX