A lesson I learned from my Daughter

Genesis 43:10

The lesson I learned while eating dinner with our four-year-old daughter!  Before telling that story, it might be helpful to give a little background about my early childhood, and how it affected my behavior as a dad.  First, let me state, that we were poor in regards to others we lived around; I sure wish they were using the new word for poor back then, under resourced sounds so much better, and when food was placed on your plate it was eaten.  If dad was at the table and you had a death wish, you would complain about the food.  Let us go back to the lesson Natalie taught her daddy at the age of four.

I began to notice that Natalie always ate first, the things that she did not enjoy and so one evening while eating dinner, I ask this question, “Why are you eating the cabbage first, it is not your favorite, is it?”  Her reply changed my behavior, “I do not like cabbage, but I have to eat it because mother put it on my plate, so I am getting rid of what I do not like, so I can enjoy what I do like.”  What wisdom from a four-year old child, if only her dad had learned that truth, how much better life would have been.  I did what most of us do; I put it off till the last, I looked at it, I thought about it, and when it was hominy, I choked on each bite, as it grew in my mouth, it was the last thing I ate.

Jacob/Israel had done the same thing, he was letting fear control his actions, and it was easier to put off what needed to happen; and that was sending Benjamin with his brother to buy supplies that the family must have, to survive.  It’s crunch time, little food is left, the stock is running out of feed and the ladies are wondering how they can make the food stretch, the servants are complaining and Jacob is putting off making any decision.  Judah finally got the courage to tell his father the following; “If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”  Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.” 

It is so easy to procrastinate, and especially when it is something, you do not enjoy, add fear to that, and it will freeze your actions, even to the point of harm to yourself or your family.  It happens everyday, in business, in Churches, in Governments, and in the family; if only we can learn the lesson my daughter taught her dad, at the age of four.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice