Family Valuables

In his book Raising Your Child to Be a Messiah, Neil Kurshan tells about the medical student who went to see a counsellor about whether she should complete medical school or drop out to raise a family. The counsellor suggested that she could do both with a little outside help. The student explained that she had vowed never to entrust her children to a housekeeper. The counsellor asked why, and the young woman explained that when she was a young child, her wealthy parents would vacation in Europe each summer and leave her with a nanny.

One year, when the girl was eleven, the housekeeper suddenly quit shortly before the parents were to leave for Europe. The parents were upset that their vacation was jeopardised, but a few days before their intended departure, they found a replacement. When the daughter noticed her mother wrapping up all the family silverware and jewels, she asked why, since it had never been done before. Her mother explained that she could not trust the new maid with the family valuables. That insensitive remark stabbed the little girl in the heart. Was she not a “family valuable’ of more worth than knives and forks? She never forgot the incident, and as she grew up, she promised herself that she would bring up her own children.

The story of Martha and Mary reminds us that not every action has the same value in the eyes of the Lord, either.

Do what is right, not necessarily the right thing.

Love in my Master’s Name;

Fr Des Smit