They're Watching You

This is a story for anyone who has a mother . . . or even worse . . . a mother-in-law.

There was a family that consisted of a father, a mother, a son and a daughter. The father's mother (I'll call her Grams) became ill and needed to move in with her son's family. Grams shook and when the family ate dinner together, Grams chipped the china with her spoon. The mother gave Grams a wooden bowl at the next meal. Grams didn't chip the wooden bowl, but it made such a clatter every time her spoon hit the bowl. The mother set up a small table and chair in the pantry and Grams ate her dinner in there where she would not disturb anyone. Mother found her son in the workroom of the basement the next day whittling a block of wood. Mother asked, "Son, what are you working on?" He said, "A gift for you." "Awww," Mother said, "what for?" Her son answered her while he worked the block of wood, "For when you are old and need to live with me, I am making you a wooden bowl and you can eat in my pantry." At dinner that night, Grams sat at the head of the table using the family's best china.

There are two important points here. First, "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." Ex 20:12 They're not called commandments for nothing. And second, the kids - they're watching you . . .