As Father’s
Day approaches, I wanted to share some reflections I had. I was recently reading Ephesians 6. It was a part of my daily devotion. I wasn’t even directed to Eph. 6:1-4, but
actually verse 12. However, I couldn’t
get pass verse two when I was just completely overwhelmed! It read:
“CHILDREN, OBEY your parents in the
Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right. Honor (esteem and
value as precious) your father and your mother – this is the first commandment
with a promise.” – Ephesians 6: 1-2 AMP
Wow…esteem and value as precious…esteem, and value as
precious…
Like a true gift, a rare diamond, an heirloom.
I began to
reflect on my relationship with my parents. For me, when I thought of my
mother, I reflected on all the awesome memories we have had, how she is such a
strong woman and the sacrifices she made being the “primary parent” as most
would say. Then I thought of my father,
“Esteem and value as precious”, those words ran across my mind again.
Immediately tears began to well up in my eyes.
For the most part, my father and I have a good relationship.
There is no doubt that I love him very much. However, our relationship is
indeed, unique. We’ve had our
disagreements, difference in opinions, and ‘special’ words to each other, but
through all of it…I never stopped once loving him. This is all due to me deciding to have a
heart like my Heavenly Father towards him.
Not once in the scripture did it say, “Honor your parents,
only if they are perfect”, or, “Honor whichever parent has done the most for
you”. The Bible says to honor them.
PERIOD. The reality is, there is no
perfect parent…because there are no perfect people. I don’t have children myself, but from the
looks of it, I can already tell that parenting isn’t easy. However, I do believe in a lot of cases,
parents do the best they can, using what they know and learned as children or
perhaps lack thereof. Parents are held
accountable to God, not to their children and will be dealt with accordingly. As children, the same applies; we are
responsible for loving them, and honoring them, not raising them. Pretty simple
in the grand picture of things?
Please know that I don’t write this as a “Daddy’s Girl” or
someone who has had a ‘rose colored’ relationship with my dad. However, I do write
it as someone who recognizes that her parents are great; they tried (and
succeeded) with raising great children in the best way they knew how. I know that I can’t blame anything in my life
on my father (or mother), because what my future holds was never dependent on him
to begin with. I had days that I
questioned up and down decisions that he made, or even if our relationship
could be “recovered”. The crazy thing
about it is, whenever, those thoughts came in my head, I thought about how
grateful I am that despite all of my mistakes or the decisions I made…I had a
Heavenly Father who always kept my relationship with Him “covered”. Immediately, I would think, if God can love
& forgive me in my imperfections and still consider me precious despite my
sometimes, blatant lack of relationship and actions towards Him…surely I can
display that same love & forgiveness towards my own dad. This mind-set didn't come overnight, but love is powerful...it will come to those who look at it as the only option.
Isn’t that awesome?!
I do consider my mother and father a gift. I honor, esteem and
value them. I love them past their
imperfections, as they do me. I must
also add, that as we honor them – we bring out the ‘greatness’ within them as
parents.
So, instead of focusing on what our parents didn’t do
(especially fathers), just thank God for them. Rest, and know that you aren’t
responsible for their decisions, you aren’t held accountable for their actions,
your future isn’t based off of what they did or didn’t do and understand that
they aren’t perfect. Have the heart for them as God has for you – He considers
you to be extremely valuable, so much so, that He used your parents to bring
you into this world to be amazing in your own unique way. If only for that
reason alone, God used your parents mightily, and honor is due there.
These are just my thoughts I reflected on. With that said,
Happy Father’s Day!
Love you all!
Me and Dad circa '88
(He even let me do his hair LOL...now that's love!)
