Pastor's Ponderings
While I do not have a cable subscription at my home, I do have access to some of the best of the “oldies” via my Amazon Prime and other options. There are few shows that I enjoy from days gone by – Perry Mason, Dennis the Menace, Leave it to Beaver, and The Andy Griffith Show.
All of Perry Mason’s cases, except one and that was won on appeal, were a delight to see when Perry won the case, and Hamilton Berger would walk away defeated, but not undaunted. There is a lesson there about humility, which I will save for a different “Pondering.”
There was a time when Dennis the Menace was a hit as a troublemaking, mop headed boy. Leave it to Beaver featured boys who rubbed adults the wrong way. The wisecracking, annoying trope was all the rage. Did you know that was the way Opie of The Andy Griffith Show was originally written?
Ron Howard’s father, Rance, read the first script and sat down with Andy Griffith and gently encouraged him to make Opie’s relationship with his TV dad a little more tender and innocent, a little more real, like his relationship with his own boys. Andy listened and took the suggestion to heart. When shooting started, Opie emerged as a new kind of television boy, a kid who had a special relationship with his father, who helped his son through life’s challenges.
Seeing a boy own up to his mistakes and a father own up to his ---traits influenced by Rance and Ron --- created an honest relationship that families still look to today. Ron Howard says of his father, “He stood for something that people could recognize as integrity. And we benefited from that.”
As Father’s Day approaches in June, remember to thank God for your father or one who served in that role in your life. For in that relationship one learns love and how to learn from mishaps in life.
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