Caution for Parents

Do you remember Gilda Radner, of Saturday Night Live fame? One of the funniest women who ever appeared on that show, in my opinion. In the Bible study I'm currently doing (Breaking Free by Beth Moore) I was tickled to come across an excerpt from her book, It's Always Something.

When I was little, my nurse Dibby's cousin had a dog, just a mutt, and the dog was pregnant. I don't know how long dogs are pregnant, but she was due to have her puppies in a bout a week. She was out in the yard one day and got in the way of the lawn mower and her two hind legs got cut off. They rushed her to the vet and he said, "I can sew her up, or you can put her to sleep if you want, but the puppies are okay. She'll be able to deliver the puppies." Dibby's cousin said, "Keep her alive." So the vet sewed up her backside, and over the next week the dog learned to walk. She didn't spend any time worrying, she just learned to walk by taking two steps in the front and flipping up her backside, and then taking two stepps and flipping up her backside again. She gave birth to six little puppies, all in perfect health. She nursed them and weaned them. And when they learned to walk, the all walked like her.

Ha ha ha! I laughed at the mental image of those puppies flipping their backsides all over the yard, just like their mama. But then the message sank in. Those puppies emulated their mama, the only role model they had. And God help them, they learned to act just like her. I shudder to think of some of the behaviors I've modeled for my children. And my children are modeling some of those same behaviors for my grandchildren. It's enough to send this Nana to her knees. Thank the Lord He is our Healer, and the Bible says He sets our feet on straight, even paths. All four of our feet. Er, I mean...well, you know what I mean!