When you have come to the land your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to do like the abominations of those nations.
The song says do the right thing,
do the right thing, do it all the time
and this is what I tell my son in
almost every situation.
He’s at that age where it’s becoming
a necessity to say these words.
As he gets older and taller
(He’s already taller than our
family scientists thought possible.)
he’s earned the ability to
walk out the front door as
his whims may direct him.
Just the other day he went for a walk
with a red-haired girl he knows from school
who happens to live in our neighborhood.
So that kind of thing is happening now.
He’s the kind of boy who absolutely
knows the right thing to do
but occasionally he misses the mark
and we realize he’s playing on a field
we didn’t know he knew existed.
So out the door he goes and we tell him
to do the right thing. Actually, we’re
a lot more specific but those details
are between him and us.
Like God told the ancient Israelites
we hope we’ve taught him how to
recognize an abomination, and that he’ll
resist its temptations as he walks
on the streets of our promised neighborhood.
God knows I’ve struggled with this and my parents
weren’t on hand to quote an inspirational song.
Doing anything all the time is a struggle,
and I was never as tall as he’s going to be.