When to Teach

 

My wife is in a wheelchair (for the time being), and I have to do the laundry because the washing machine is downstairs.  Well actually, the washing machine does all the work; I just put the clothes in and add laundry soap and fabric softener into the dispensers.  Much different from when I was a kid sixty years ago.  My mother had to use a number two wash tub to boil the clothes to get them clean.  We had three large stones to set the tub on with a fire of pine knots underneath.  It was my job to go back into the woods behind our house to find the pine knots.  Mom used her grandmother’s glass wash board to scrub the clothes with (I still have that scrub board in my attic).  She wrung the clean clothes out and hung them on a clothesline and let the breeze dry them.  Then came the ironing.  Those were the days before steam irons.  Mom had an RC Cola bottle with a stopper/sprinkler in it.  She would sprinkle my Sunday dress shirts with water from that soda bottle and then roll them up tightly and set them aside.  In about an hour, the water was evenly dispersed and she unrolled the damp shirts onto the ironing board.  As mom ironed my shirts, we talked.  She offhandedly asked me questions and gave me advice.  She didn’t lecture me or scold me, we just talked.  She gave me pointers on school, on girls, on manners, and on life in general.  As she ironed, I learned from her wisdom.  I am reminded of what Moses said in Deuteronomy 6:6&7, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  Hey, when is the best time to teach the Bible to your children?  All the time.  And when should you start?  Right now.  Hey, it’s never too late to begin.