Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins

Cutting the Apron Strings The hardest thing for parents to do is prepare their children for their eventual independence—to cut the proverbial apron strings. Hard as it is, it is one most vital to both parent and child in this life and eternity. Some children never break away from their family at all, and are never truly independent. They vote as their parents voted. They live like their parents live, and think as their parents think. Parental instruction is important, but one who will not break some of the ties to the past will always be captives of the past. Children can become so dependent on parents that even as adults they cannot or will not act without their parents’ approval. They don’t trust themselves, and they never will without cutting the apron strings. This is something parents must prepare them to do. When Joseph was sold into slavery (Genesis 37ff), he was taken from the protection of his family and forced to be independent. Years later he rescued his family, the seed of Abraham, and in so doing paved the way for the Redeemer. With the faith of his father in his mind, he learned great moral lessons from him, but when on his own, he had to think and act for himself, and so claimed his place in history as a powerful, influential person. “Leave your father and mother…” Human children are under the influence of their parents longer than most living creatures, about twenty years, or one-fourth of their lives. But God said each individual must, when establishing his/her own family, leave and cleave: Note these plain words: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh,” Genesis 2:24. God says that in our new, chosen family our primary allegiance must be to our spouse, not our parents. Wives must be in “subjection to your own husband,” 1 Peter 3:1, not your father. Parent-child relationships are not broken, and mutual obligations still exist, but when a man or woman chooses to marry, he/she is obligated to “cleave unto” their spouse. Your spouse must be first in your life, not your parents. You must grow up and become your own person. God says there must be a leaving and a cleaving. Parents, we are responsible to prepare our children for that time. If we do not, both our children and we are in for many disappointments and regrets. “Ye became the servants of righteousness…” When a person is old enough and mature enough to ponder eternity and examine his own soul, he must do so with his own mind, not that of friends or family. We are all influenced by outside forces, but no one can think or act for you. In many ways, you are making the same kind of break we just discussed, but now the change is one of allegiance, not of family. Paul was inspired to say that a person is servant either to sin or to righteousness. Being a Christian is described in these inspired terms: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness,” Romans 6:16-18. Here is a break from the past that must be made or we continue to be servants to God’s enemy, Satan. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other,” Matthew 6:24. We must choose to serve God, and then break away from all past ties to Satan. God never asked children to abandon their parents, but we can never truly cleave to our spouse until we are willing to leave our parents. Neither is it easy to abandon a life of sin, but our quest for heaven demands that we break that relationship. Carl B. Garner

The Growing-up Process “I see children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you’re both breathless…they crash…they hit the rooftop. You patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You watch them lifted by the wind and assure them that some day they’ll fly. Finally, they are airborne. They need more string and you keep letting it out. But with each twist of the ball of twine there is a sadness that goes with joy. The kite becomes more distant, and you know it won’t be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that binds you together and will soar as it is meant to soar, free and alone. Only then do you know that you did your job. Erma Bombeck

Learning About Contentment A Russian woman lived with her husband and two children in a very small hut. Then her husband's parents lost their home and she had to take them into hers. The coughing of the old folks and the crowding were unbearable. In desperation, she went to the village wise man, whom she knew had solved many, many problems. "What should I do?" she begged. "Do you have a cow?" asked the wise man. "Yes," she replied. "Then bring her into the hut, too. And come back and see me in a week," said the wise man. A week later she was back. "This is utterly unbearable," she said. "Do you have any chickens?" asked the wise man. "Yes," she replied. "What about them?" "Bring them into the hut, too," he said. "Then come back and see me in another week." "You're utterly out of your mind," she said. Nevertheless, still awed by his reputation, she did as he asked. A week later she returned. "This is absolutely impossible," she said. "Our home is a mess." "All right," said the wise man, "take out the chickens." The next week she reported that without the chickens it was definitely better but still a miserable situation. "All right," said the wise man, "now take out the cow. That will settle your problem." And it did. Without the chickens and cow to contend with, the woman, her husband, the children and his two parents got along quite peacefully. Everything, you see, is relative. Sometimes we don't know how well off we really are. The apostle Paul, by inspiration a long, long time ago expressed this same principle in a rather different way when he said, " I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," Philippians 4:11-13. When you remove the chickens and the cow, things aren't too bad, are they? by Ken Dye