A Mother to Remember

What would happen to you if you were down and out and there was no one to help? Where would you be if you were sick and broke in a strange city with no place to sleep and nothing to eat; no money, no credit cards, no checks; no one to accept a collect call, no one to send you bus fare home, no one to send you money for a meal, and no home to go to; no father, no brother, no sister, no one?

You know it doesn’t take long to start looking like a tramp. It doesn’t take very long before you start smelling bad—about two days. It doesn’t take long for your clothes to start looking very dirty and very worn. Do you realize how short the distance is between an executive—walking along the street with his briefcase in hand, and his necktie, hair combed, clean-shaven—how short the distance is between that man and a man lying on a grate in a gutter, if you take away from that man all of his money and all of his support?

You know, families have obligations. They have obligations that should not be taken lightly. No man should ever become alienated from family; he should not allow himself to be. There’s safety in family. There’s safety in love. I have a message for you from home. If you’re out there alone and life is not working for you, if you somehow got alienated from your family—I don’t care whose fault it is—go home. Take your hat in your hand, prepare your apology if you need one, but go home. And while you are thinking about going home, think for a moment about God. There’s a passage from the Bible that reminds us of this. It’s found in Ecclesiastes, chapter four.