- Psalm 78:1-4 (NLT)
- 1 O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.
If you are not prepared to hear stories, jokes and antidotes over and over you are not prepared to experience good relationships. As French author, Sebastien Chamfort sardonically put it: If we would please in society, we must be prepared to be taught many things we know already by people who do not know them.
With Thanksgiving just days away, I thought this would be a good reminder for all of us. Listen to the stories of your family one more time. Let the aged family member share – there will come a Thanksgiving that you would give the world to hear your loved ones speak just one more time.
Make this season count. Gather the little ones around and make them listen. The passing on of stories, jokes and antidotes is the time-honored way that families and societies have passed on the wisdom of each generation to the next.
Long before we were people with books, we were people with stories. Whatever you do, listen to the stories yet one more time this Thanksgiving.
In the words of the hymn: “Tell me the old, old story…”
The ONE THING 