Good day dear friends.
Please keep the Daily family in prayer. Patti's dad, C.E. Godby died Sunday in Bryan, TX. Our prayers are with Patti, Mike, and their girls during this difficult time.
Please keep the Smith family in prayer as well as this morning at 10:30, Jennifer Smith will be laid to rest. Her funeral is at Thomason's Funeral Home on Ranch Road 12.
Our text for today is from Exodus 20, verse 12, "2 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."
What a time I had with this commandment growing up. One of my Sunday school teachers had interpreted this commandment to "Obey your father and your mother." That was tough! Not that I was a disobedient child all of the time, but given some periods of feeling lazy, I didn't feel much like cleaning my room, or cutting the lawn or going to particular places. To disobey, according to my Sunday school teacher would mean a free trip straight down to the other place! Then as I grew and reflected on this and heard other teachers, I came to understand the power and impact of this commandment. To honor means to hold in the upmost respect the two who loved me, provided for me, and raised me. Honor is one of those words, like cherish, that we don't use much anymore. When was the last time you used in a sentence, and meant it, "I honor you?" We do have to say it in a courtroom setting, where our conversation with a judge should begin with Your Honor, though that language seems antiquated. In our thoughts, hearts and spirits, the two parents God shared with us should hold a special place, if they deserve it. Yes, I said "if they deserve it." I share that because there are those parents who have not in any sense of the word been parents. They've been abusive, threatening, harmful beings, whose ways of conducting themselves towards their children have been anything but parenting. They deserve not our honor.
After many years in ministry and counseling, I know these folks exist. You know these folks exist. And some of their children have been forced to make difficult decisions about where they are to live and work based on the strained and dangerous relationships they've had with their parents. We've heard of cases where a child has had to call the police because of the danger the child has been in because of actions or decisions one of the parents has taken. Not too long ago, a daughter refused to ride in a car with her drunken father and reported him. Others have had to remove their parents from their home because they have brought with them illegal substances and have placed the ownership of the house in danger because of that.
My prayer with these children of less-than-perfect parents has been that these will have learned from these experiences how to be a better parent. Those who have not learned love from parents, I pray will be the most loving fathers and mothers a child could possibly have. Those who have seen the damages drug use can inflict on a person, I pray will be the most sober and anti-drug parents they can. And so on.
Our prayer should be for God to help us know in our situations what honoring our parents looks like. For those wandering Hebrews in the desert, they knew. For our iPod and cellphone attached kids, many don't know. At the base of it all is the need to love. And to build on that love the trust that leads to respect and on respect that which follows which is honor.
PRAYER: Loving God, help me to know what it means to honor my parents. Help me as a parent know how to live a life of love that brings honor to my life from my children. Above all I pray to live a life that honors You. I pray this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
Please keep the Daily family in prayer. Patti's dad, C.E. Godby died Sunday in Bryan, TX. Our prayers are with Patti, Mike, and their girls during this difficult time.
Please keep the Smith family in prayer as well as this morning at 10:30, Jennifer Smith will be laid to rest. Her funeral is at Thomason's Funeral Home on Ranch Road 12.
Our text for today is from Exodus 20, verse 12, "2 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."
What a time I had with this commandment growing up. One of my Sunday school teachers had interpreted this commandment to "Obey your father and your mother." That was tough! Not that I was a disobedient child all of the time, but given some periods of feeling lazy, I didn't feel much like cleaning my room, or cutting the lawn or going to particular places. To disobey, according to my Sunday school teacher would mean a free trip straight down to the other place! Then as I grew and reflected on this and heard other teachers, I came to understand the power and impact of this commandment. To honor means to hold in the upmost respect the two who loved me, provided for me, and raised me. Honor is one of those words, like cherish, that we don't use much anymore. When was the last time you used in a sentence, and meant it, "I honor you?" We do have to say it in a courtroom setting, where our conversation with a judge should begin with Your Honor, though that language seems antiquated. In our thoughts, hearts and spirits, the two parents God shared with us should hold a special place, if they deserve it. Yes, I said "if they deserve it." I share that because there are those parents who have not in any sense of the word been parents. They've been abusive, threatening, harmful beings, whose ways of conducting themselves towards their children have been anything but parenting. They deserve not our honor.
After many years in ministry and counseling, I know these folks exist. You know these folks exist. And some of their children have been forced to make difficult decisions about where they are to live and work based on the strained and dangerous relationships they've had with their parents. We've heard of cases where a child has had to call the police because of the danger the child has been in because of actions or decisions one of the parents has taken. Not too long ago, a daughter refused to ride in a car with her drunken father and reported him. Others have had to remove their parents from their home because they have brought with them illegal substances and have placed the ownership of the house in danger because of that.
My prayer with these children of less-than-perfect parents has been that these will have learned from these experiences how to be a better parent. Those who have not learned love from parents, I pray will be the most loving fathers and mothers a child could possibly have. Those who have seen the damages drug use can inflict on a person, I pray will be the most sober and anti-drug parents they can. And so on.
Our prayer should be for God to help us know in our situations what honoring our parents looks like. For those wandering Hebrews in the desert, they knew. For our iPod and cellphone attached kids, many don't know. At the base of it all is the need to love. And to build on that love the trust that leads to respect and on respect that which follows which is honor.
PRAYER: Loving God, help me to know what it means to honor my parents. Help me as a parent know how to live a life of love that brings honor to my life from my children. Above all I pray to live a life that honors You. I pray this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
