room, a wave o f rem orse and shame crept over me. So I came to your bed side to ask your forgiveness. These are the things I was think in g : I had a tough day a t the office; I was cross. I scolded you as you got dressed fo r school because you gave your fa c e a dab with w ater and left all the dirt on the towel. I took you to task fo r not cleaning your teeth. I called out angrily when you left some o f your things on the floor. A t b reak fa st I found fa u lt too. You spilled things; you pu t your elbows on the ta b le; you wouldn’t sit erect in your chair. As you started off to school, you turned and waved a little hand and called, “Goodby, Daddy I” I frowned and said, “Hold your shoulders back.” Then it began all over again in the afternoon. As I came up the street, I saw you playing in the dirt. There were holes in your good clothes and 1 hum iliated you before your friends. I made you m arch in the house and I said, “Clothes are expensive. I f you had to buy them, you’d be more care fu l.” Do you rem ember later when I was reading, how you came in timidly, with a sort o f hurt look in your eyes? I glanced up over my paper. Patiently you hesitated at the door. “What is it you want now?” I snapped. You said nothing but ran across the room and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me. Your little arms tightened with an affection which God sent bloom ing in your heart and which even neg lect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering to your room. Well, Son, it was shortly afterw ard that my p ap er slipped from my hands and a sickening fe a r came over me. Suddenly I saw m y self as I really was in all my selfishness and I fe lt sick at heart. What has this h abit been doing to me? The habit o f complaining, finding fau lt and scolding? A ll o f these were my rew ards to you fo r being a boy. It wasn’t that I didn’t love you, S on ; it was ju st that I expected so much o f a little boy. I was measuring you by the yardstick o f my own years. There is so much that is good and fine and true in your character. The little heart in you is as big as the trunk o f an oak. A ll o f this was shown
by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else m atters tonight, Son. I ’ve come to your bedside in the dark ness, kneeling here so ashamed. I t ’s a poor apology, I know. You wouldn’t understand these things i f I told them to you while you were aw ake yet I must say them. I have prayed God to strengthen me in my new resolve. To morrow I ’ll su ffer when you su ffer and laugh when you laugh. I ’ll bite my tongue when impatient cross words come and I ’ll keep saying, “H e is noth ing but a boy, ju st a little boy." I am a fra id I have seen you as a man, yet os I see you now, Son, crumpled and weary in your bed, I see you as you really are. Yesterday you were in your mother’8 arms, your head on h er shoul der. I have asked too much, much too much o f you, Son. D ear Son, a p en i tent fa th e r kneels at your bedside. H ere in the darkness I kiss your dirty little fingers and your damp forehead, asking you, “F org iv e me, Son, I knew not what I did. F orgive me, God, and help me to be a better fath er." * * * The real test of a man's character may be measured by what he does when no one else is looking. * * * M ADE TO W A LK Without question, one reason why the B ible has remained the tremendous fo rce it has through the centuries de spite constant attack is that it isn’t merely a book o f pious platitudes. It alone contains the words o f etern al life. Discouragements and fru stration s come to all o f us yet the believer is given assured confidence through fa ith in Christ. T here’s an unm istakable differ ence between the w orld s philosophies and those which we find in Scripture. Consider this small example. When man gets into difficulty, the world usually will say, “You made your b ed ; now you have to lie in it.” That’s a pretty hopeless and pathetic lot in life. The Saviour, however, doesn’t leave us to the m isery o f our souls, but rath er gives us the positive and divine en ablement, “T ake up thy bed and walk.” As the lame man o f old, there are some listening today who have become paralytics because o f sin, perhaps even thinking that life isn’t worth living. 20
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