Mannerisms

 

Little kids growing up learn many things from their parents.  I have a dear friend from years ago, whose dad was a teacher of mine in college.  I knew Steve P. years before I had a class with his father.  And as I sat in class under the dad, I noticed many mannerisms that the father and son had in common.  During a particularly dull class, I listed twelve idiosyncrasies that were common to Steve and his dad.  (After all, it was a psychology class.)  Were those mannerisms due to genetics or were they due to learned behavior?  I’m not sure.  And I remember many mannerisms from my own father.  My dad used to leave a small amount of food on his plate after he was finished eating.  He always left “a tad of food” for whatever reason.  I suppose he was reminding himself of his need for self-control in eating.  Something that I didn’t inherit from my father.  :<(  When my dad would write out a check for church on Sunday, he never dated the check for Sunday.  He would date the check for Monday.  He said that he didn’t want to “conduct business on Sunday”.  Which reminds me of Jesus, when He visited the Temple in John chapter 2.  Just a few days before his crucifixion and Easter resurrection, (just about this time of the year) Jesus was appalled to find moneychangers and animal vendors right there in the Court of the Gentiles.  Jesus was furious that the Temple supervisors had turned the place of worship into a veritable shopping mall, taking advantage of worshippers coming from afar.  Jesus grabbed a coil of cords, folded it into a makeshift whip, and drove out the vendors saying in John 2:16, “… Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”  Because of my dad’s respect for the Lord’s Day, I am still reluctant to do much on Sunday.  Oh, I know that we’re living under Grace and not under the Law, but I just learned some of my habits from my father … habits that are hard to break.  And I wonder, have I learned some of my habits from my heavenly Father?  I hope so.  Hey, how about you?  Like Steve P., can I identify some of your mannerisms that you have in common with your heavenly Father?  Hmmm …?