An elderly man once told this true story about himself to a friend of his. The event had happened many, many years before, on what seemed to be an ordinary evening of the old man's childhood. But that day turned out to leave such an impression upon him, that it lasted the rest of his long life.

“One evening in summer-time,” he related, “as I was returning home after a hard day's work in the hayfield, tired and hungry, I met my father on the road to town.”

“He said to me, ‘I wish you would take this parcel to the village for me, James.’ ”

“I was at that time a boy of twelve, and, like other boys of my own age, I was more fond of play than of work. I was vexed that he should ask me to go to the village after my day's work, for it was about two miles away.”

In the simplicity of his narration, the old man James admitted that his father's request frustrated him. Young James had just been working for hours and did not want his playtime to be delayed, much less canceled! This extra task was not only more work, but it could take up the rest of the day since it required making a trip of four-miles! (two miles there and back).

So, should he ask his father if he could accomplish the errand tomorrow? Or if his father insisted that James had to do it then, should he drag his feet and complain? What do you think a little young boy in his shoes would have done? What would you have done?

Faced with this difficult, yet quite ordinary, situation, James told his listener what happened: what he did and why.

“But I loved my father, and I always tried to show my love for him by obeying him at once. So, joyfully, I replied: ‘Yes, father, I will go.’ ”

“ ‘Thank you, James, my boy.’ he said to me, handing over the package, ‘I was going to go myself, but, somehow, I don’t feel very well today.’ ” Handing his son the package, the very grateful father looked deeply into his son’s eyes. “You have always been a good son to me, James.”

James’ father had once been a young boy himself and certainly must have known what it cost his son to obey so quickly and cheerfully, especially at the end of a hard day's work and having to sacrifice some well earned play time. The good man was relieved and grateful as he watched his son head off. His father’s last words echoed in James’ heart as he began his 4 mile task. But the love that he and his father shared made each step easier, because real love always lightens every burden.

“I hurried into the town, and was soon back again. When I came near the house, I saw a crowd of people at the door. One of them came to me, the tears rolling down his face. 'Your father,' he said, 'fell dead just as he was entering the house. The last words he spoke were to you.' "

The unexpected news caught the child totally unprepared, and the poor boy stood shocked beyond words. For the rest of his life, the memory of this sudden death would never leave him. It had touched him forever.

Yet down through the many years that followed, James took his father's death well, and in the face of the sober reality, he managed to find one very consoling thought as he concluded his story for his listener.

"I am an old man now, but I have thanked God over and over again during all the years that have passed since that hour when my father’s last words to me were: ‘You have always been a good son to me, James.’"