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United Church of Christ | Saxonville, Massachusetts

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Teaching Better Behavior

March 11, 2019 by r.carney

A Lenten Devotion by Ruth Carney

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, 13

I was my grandparents’ last grandchild. We used to travel from Waltham to New Bedford to visit them frequently. My mother was one of six children who were all very close. In fact, for many years, my grandparents and their oldest child and his family lived together. I wasn’t close in age to any of my cousins. So, I sat at the table with all the adults who frequently reminisced of their life together growing up. This is just one of the many stories of my gramps’ style of parenting.

My uncle (the oldest of the six) was known to be a hellion. He often stayed out all night. One evening my gramps had had enough. My uncle would try to sneak into the house by climbing on top of the porch roof and into his bedroom. So, one morning at 6 AM, he did his usual sneaking in. He was sitting on his bed taking his shoes and socks off when my gramps came into the room. My gramps sat down on the bed, put his arm around his son and said, “Son, I’m glad you started to turn over a new leaf by getting up so early to get to work!” My uncle had no choice but to put his shoes and socks back on and get ready for work. From what I was told, the sneaking in at 6 AM stopped.

My grandfather never told his son that he knew that he was just getting in at 6 AM for years after that day. My grandfather had such a unique method of “teaching” ways of better behavior. His love of his children showed through all the stories my mother and her siblings shared. I never knew another man in my childhood like him. I loved Gramps so much and he never left me any doubt as to how much he loved me.

Good and Gracious God,
Thank you for those in our lives who share their love and presence with us. Amen

Filed Under: Lenten Devotional 2019

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