Honor
Your Parents
"Honor your
father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the
LORD
your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:12
After five years of seeing the
continental United States from a pickup truck and travel trailer, my
parents were considering slowing down. Having sold their home to pay
for their retirement vacation, they were thinking about selling the
RV package to buy a small house, or buy into an assisted living
community. What they didn’t know was that my husband, Joe, and I
had been talking about purchasing a house large enough to accommodate
our family, and Mom &Dad, nearer to where we worked.
I must admit, I was more hesitant than
Joe. But God gave us peace about it, and we decided to broach the
subject with Mom during the next catch up phone call.
When Mom called that Friday, I told her we’d been considering
moving to the Mt.Vernon, Ohio area to be closer to our jobs. In a
bold move for Mom, because she doesn't ask for much of anything, she
responded, “Would you and Joe think about getting a home where a
grandma and grandpa could live as well?” I laughed as I shared with
her that Joe and I had been talking and praying about that very
situation!
From that point forward, God opened and
closed doors to guide each and every move, allowing us to have the
desired space within our budgets, and see the dream fulfilled. I
learned that if you truly open your heart and allow God to lead you,
wonderful things will happen
†
Without our parents we would be
nothing…as in: we wouldn’t exist! Even considering that not all
children are elated at their choice of parents, today’s text has
proprietary significance. It is the first commandment with a promise.
The Bible says, if we honor our parents, barring foolish and
unforeseen mistakes on our part, God will always provide us with
shelter.
Honoring our parents is the first step
in honoring God. If we can’t do one, we aren’t doing the other.
Not all of us will be called to board our parents. However…we are
all called to bestow on them the honor they deserve. Besides…we owe
them BIG!
Prayer
“Help me always bring
honor to my parents, Lord, and glory to Your Name. Amen.”
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