I can remember as a child growing up in the 40’s and 50’s my mom would say, “I’ll wash your mouth out with soap,” after letting slip a dirty word.
She would say, “This will hurt me more than it hurts you,” after handing out punishment.
Mom would make us shower regularly and often emphasize the importance of hygiene by saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” Later I understood the importance of the connection as I reflected on the state of maintaining a physically clean body and living a moral and spiritual life as taught in 2 Corinthians 7:1.
My dad had rules also. One was when you come to the supper table you need to be fully dressed in a shirt, shoes, and no hat. He would say, “I’m not asking, I’m telling.” We knew he was serious.
Going to school we developed healthy social skills and connections. We would work all summer to buy a new pair of shrink-to-fit Levi jeans, hoping that pretty girl you had a crush on would smile and acknowledge you in the hallway.
Mama would wash them, put pant leg stretchers inside, hang them outside on the clothesline to dry where they dried smoothly, less shrinkage, with a perfect crease. The excitement was amazing, what fun times we had.
We did not realize the character and love our parents were instilling in us were biblical principles and values for us to be successful. King Soloman addressed the children of the time about paternal authority and affection, to teach them to be more attentive and obedient. In Proverbs 1:8, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, which is good and wholesome counsel, and forsake not the law of thy mother:”
After school we would walk home, stay outside until supper time playing with friends and neighbors without fear. I rode my bicycle everywhere, even to the store to pick up special groceries, bread, milk, and the best part was I would get a nickel (sometimes a dime if I finished my chores), to buy candy. We were even allowed to drink out of a water hose. What fun times we had.
Our schools were safe, the police were regarded as honorable, neighborhoods and cities were not being burned, parents had the authority of their children, parents trusted that we would be safe as we walked around the community helping others, morality was at its highest.
Our nation began to enjoy a period of rapid economic expansion resulting in prosperity, low unemployment, higher consumer spending, and an increase in GNP. Our economy took millions of people off the farms, enabling the Birth of the America Middle Class, to better provide for their families.
Jobs were plentiful, and they were filled by a generation of eager-to-work people. God teaches us in Psalms 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” America was living in the American Dream Blessing.
It seems to me we are going backwards. Of course we have more conveniences with technology today, but the things that made America great are lost. We are digging ourselves into a hole so deep it is as if we have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear and are living with a vision that is destroying America as taught in Mark 8:17-18. Marriage and families are no longer built on biblical laws, schools are not safe, children are not safe to play outside without supervision, parents have no authority over their children (we have given our government the authority), children are learning principles and values from smartphones and computers instead of from Godly parents, and no one seems to care as long as our selfish desires of their mind are fulfilled.
It is not too late to save America; however, we have to return to what made America great in the beginning. I am ready for more fun times again, are you?
Keep freedom alive.
Jim Coonrod is a Marine Corps veteran and an avid gardener. He lives in Collinsville.
Source: Freepik.com