Old-Fashioned Parents

“This must be the crookedest creek in the world,” said Paul. “If it weren’t going so slow we would all be dizzy by now.” His twin brother Perry and their friend Roger hopped across the flat stones in their bare feet. They had spent all afternoon in the creek. Watching minnows and crayfish, and skipping stones made the time fly by. Occasionally a kingfisher with its “rat-a-tat” call or a muskrat bobbing its head out of the water added to their enjoyment.

“Why don’t we each grab a leaf and race it downstream?” suggested Roger.

“Ok,” said Perry. “The first one to reach that bridge way downstream wins.” Perry’s leaf found the shortest path through the stream that tumbled over and around small rapids of stones. But it became wedged against two rocks. Paul’s was caught in a backwater, so Roger’s leaf won easily. The twins demanded a rematch which Perry won.
“This really has been a fun day out here away from the city,” sighed Perry as the three kept splashing downstream. “You’re lucky to have all this in your backyard. I’m glad our parents are letting us stay the night.”

“Yes,” said Roger. “I hear your parents are pretty strict though.”

“Old-fashioned is the word for it,” said Paul. “You’re practically the only friend we have that they approve of. They think this is still the Middle Ages and we’re all still little kids. We can’t go to any parties or anything that has dancing and loud music. We’re not supposed to talk at the supper table. They check all the books that we read and we are not permitted to talk on the telephone very long.”

“Wow, my parents aren’t nearly that bad,” said Roger.
“…Make us save all our money and take piano lessons. Sometimes we have to stay in for not having our room clean enough, can you imagine!”

“I feel lucky,” said Roger. “I don’t get bothered nearly so much.
“You can say that again,” said Perry. “Can you imagine if we tried to grow our hair this long!” He lifted up a few of Roger’s curly locks.

“What do you suppose make your parents like that?” asked Roger.
“I don’t know,” said Perry, catching his balance after slipping on a slimy rock. “There doesn’t seem to be any way to change their minds. They say they are doing this for our own good. By the way, what time is it getting to be?”

Roger stared at his watch and held it to his ear. “Oh, great!” He moaned. “It stopped at exactly ten to six, and who knows how long ago that was!”
“You mean it’s after six?” asked Paul.

“I’ll bet it’s closer to seven. Can you believe that? We’ve been walking down this creek for almost four hours!” said Roger.

It didn’t seem possible that it had been that long since they had wandered into the creek from the ravine behind Roger’s yard. “If we’ve been gone that long,” said Paul, who wasn’t quite convinced, “that means it will be dark before we get home.”

“Oh, no! We’d better turn around and get going,” said Roger. For awhile none of them spoke as they tried to walk quickly through the water. But the current was stronger than they had thought. That, plus countless toe-stubbing from their haste, made the going much slower than they hoped.

Perry, who had a better sense of direction than the others, saw a path leading up from the left bank of the creek. “Look, that trail leads up in the direction of your house, Roger. With the way this creek winds all over the place it could save us hours. We’d be home in plenty of time.”

The others looked doubtful. “What if it ends?” asked Roger. “Or suppose the trail winds around and doesn’t end up where you think it will? Then we would really be in trouble when it gets dark.”Paul agreed. “At least there’s no way you can get lost following a river.”

“You’ve got to take a chance sometime,” argued Perry. But he could not convince the others, and they continued on. The more Perry thought about it, the more certain he was they should have tried the path. He could feel the shadows deepening, and the splashing water was feeling less refreshing and more chilling in the evening air. In the growing blackness they fell more than once on the unseen stones. Perry was sure his feet had lost half their skin. After what seemed like hours of getting nowhere, none of them was saying a word.

Perry had been plodding ahead without even watching where he was going. Suddenly something seemed familiar. He stopped and headed back to the left bank.

“Does this tree look familiar to anyone else?” he asked. He heard nothing but sloshing as his companions drew near.
“Sure!” cried Roger. “That’s it! That’s the tree we swung from for awhile before we started down the creek. We’re back! Look, I’ve got the rope in my hands.”

Paul shuddered. “Do you realize we almost went right past it?” he whispered. “We would have been in the creek all night! Probably would have caught pneumonia.”

They scrambled up the steep ravine to Roger’s house. Before they reached it, they knew they were in trouble. Several cars were in the driveway. The kitchen window was all lit up, displaying a roomful of worried people.

Roger’s father was the only one to greet them with a laugh. When he heard their whole story, he shook his head. “So you were in the creek. You know that path you were talking about leads almost back to the house. We used to take it when I was a boy.”

Mr. and Mrs. Rose were there, and they quickly escorted the twins to the car. “I’m afraid you can’t stay overnight. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is,” said Mrs. Rose over her shoulder.

Perry and Paul stared straight ahead from the back seat. Their parents’ action had taken the chills out of them. In fact, Paul’s face was flushed as he spoke. “It’s not fair. The one time you finally let us out of the house and you come running after us.”

“You didn’t handle it well,” said Mr. Rose. “We were worried sick about you. Maybe you need an earlier bedtime to straighten you out.”

“I hate always being treated like a baby,” fumed Paul. “You know how we lost track of time? We were talking about you!” He told them what they had been discussing with Roger. His parents did not speak for a few seconds, and he saw his mother sitting tensely well forward in her seat.

“It’s not easy to be a perfect parent,” sighed Dad, his eyes never leaving the road. “We want to bring you up right. It’s just that there are so many decisions to make. We have to do the best we can. When the right choice isn’t clear to us, we fall back on what our parents did. Can you see a better way?”“I think I know the problem,” said Perry. “I’ve been thinking about that since we debated whether or not to take the path home tonight. We didn’t really know what to do, so we ended up taking what we thought was the safest way, the one we were most sure of.”

“You’re right,” said Mom. “That’s how we often decide when we have decisions to make as parents. When the chips are down it seems better to go with what you did before.”

“But look what happened to us,” protested Paul. “We thought we were taking the safe way, and it was nearly the worst choice of all. Roger didn’t recognize our starting point. It turned out to be different than the way we remembered it.”

“If we would have taken the chance on the path and not been so scared, we would have been home on time,” said Perry. “Why are you so afraid to take a chance on us?”

“Maybe that’s the trouble,” admitted Dad. “The old, familiar ways aren’t always as we remember them, yet we act as if they were. However you still should have been more careful about how far you were going and how long you were gone. You were irresponsible about that.”

The twins just sighed in acknowledgement. Their father was right about that.
“Hasn’t there been a lot of trouble in the church over the years because people have been afraid to give up old, familiar ways?” asked Paul. He was excited that they were finally discussing this with their parents. Hoping for more freedom in the future. “Weren’t the Pharisees sticking to the old road when Jesus came along? They wouldn’t take a chance on Him.”

“Yes, Jesus came in with what they thought were new ideas,” said Dad. “But don’t forget He did a lot of the old too. He observed the ceremonial law as well as the Ten Commandments, and read out of the Old Testament.”

“So if the old way isn’t always the best, and the new way isn’t either, how do you decide?” asked Perry.
“I think you understand our problem in being parents. We don’t have all the answers. We certainly do a lot of praying and asking God for guidance.”

“Maybe we have been holding on to safe, familiar ways with you boys a little too much,” said Dad. “After all, you really are growing up. We can’t keep you under our wings all the time. But I hope you have a better idea now of why we act the way we do. It’s not just to be unkind and unfair. We want the best for you.”

Mom turned in her seat. “We may always have a hard time breaking away from what you think are old-fashioned ways. But maybe if we all work at it, we can try to see each other’s point of view and maybe we can balance each other out.”

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that the days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
Exodu20:12.

We should thank Jesus for our parents. Life isn’t meant to be a tug-of-war between us, is it? We don’t want to always be on different sides. We need to ask Jesus for the ability to talk with each other and not at each other.