DEAR DADDY
Two
students in a college were close friends. One was the son of a rich merchant
but his friend was very poor. The rich son used to spend money extravagantly
and act recklessly. He wanted to make more money to live more lavishly. He devised
a plan to steal ornaments from a jewellery shop by night. He sought the
assistance of the poor friend for the crime. They broke into the shop by night
and stole some expensive jewellery. The next day the police traced the culprits
and they were held in custody. They were produced before the court of law and
they were convicted of the crime by the court. The judge sentenced them to pay
a heavy fine and decreed that they would be imprisoned if the fine was not paid
forthwith.
The rich man arrived in his expensive car with
the required sum of money and easily paid the fine to release his son. The poor
man had no money with him. There was nobody to help him. So he made a contract
with the owner of a distant quarry that he would work for him in the quarry for
an year. He received some money as an advance payment for his promised labour.
With this money he could pay the fine and get his son released. But he had to
shift to the quarry where he had to toil in the scorching summer to break the rocks
and stones in the quarry and carry them to the trucks for transportation. His
body became bruised by the laborious work and he got inflicted with several
wounds. He shed a lot of blood and his body was scarred from the hard and
dangerous work in the quarry. He had to stay in the clumsy temporary tents away
from home for days together to continue his bonded labour.
The two
friends resumed their studies. One day the rich man's son invited his friend to
join him in another operation of theft assuring that he had planned the
operation meticulously and so they would not be traced this time. But the poor
man's son declined the request remembering the hardships his loving father was
suffering to compensate for the fine paid to save him from imprisonment. He
told his rich friend, "My dear Daddy has shed his blood and bruised his
body to save me. He is enduring this punishment for my sinful actions. I will never commit another crime in my
life."
Prophet
Isaiah foretold the severe sufferings which Jesus endured to save us from the
punishment that we deserved for our sins. "But
he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should
have borne...But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil
we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he
received" {Isaiah 53: 4,5}.
St. Peter teaches us, "Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so
that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that
you have been healed" {1
Peter 2: 24}.
Martin David Buxbaum (1912-1991), editor of Marriot's "Table Talk", tells parents that success in parenting is not measured by the expensive gifts and facilities you may provide to a child:
Martin David Buxbaum (1912-1991), editor of Marriot's "Table Talk", tells parents that success in parenting is not measured by the expensive gifts and facilities you may provide to a child:
"You can use most any measure
When you are speaking of success.
You can measure it in fancy home,
Expensive car or dress.
But the measure of your real success
Is the one you cannot spend.
It's the way your kids describe you
When talking to a friend."
The
family is the first and best institution founded by God. The letters in the
word, FAMILY may be regarded as representing the first letters
of the words in the statement, “Father And Mother In Love, Year-round”
or the hearty remark of
a loving little child, “Father And Mother! I Love You”.
Parents
should stand between their child and God- not as a separating wall but as a
connecting link.
...................................................................................................
© By:
Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science &
Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof.
Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's
College, Kanjirappally and
Leo. S.
John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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