Happy Father’s Day!
‘Time in the Word’ By Clayton Adams
I have been blessed with a good man for my father.
Unfortunately, not everyone has been blessed with a good father. My wife is one such person, she grew up without her father.
My wife, Laurie Adams, recently wrote the following article about honoring parents. She is a contributing writer at www.lacedwithgrace. com and shared it on her Facebook page: “Father’s Day is this Sunday. I love that society has embarked on a specific day to show honor and high regard to fathers.
Even though Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have become greatly commercialized with the pressure of buying greeting cards and roses and a new necktie, the symbolism of what the gifts resemble is still honorable.
As I sat in a Mother’s Day church service, I heard what the preacher was saying, “Honor your parents”.
But what exactly does that look like? It’s easy to honor something (or someone) that is worthy of honor, but let’s face it, not everything our parents do, say or even believe is good in our eyes. How we see things has absolutely nothing to do with honor.
“Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Exodus 20:12). I really struggled with this scripture several years ago when I came face to face with finding my earthly father after 40 years of his abandonment. Prior to meeting him, I found myself asking God how I could honor a man who walked out on me and never looked back? God’s answer really surprised me and it may surprise you too.
God revealed to me an understanding of what the above-mentioned passage meant. Honoring my father and mother has absolutely nothing to do with them.
Honoring something or someone is a heart choice that we each make. So, if we choose to honor (or to not honor) our parents, it is a condition of our own heart. God did not say, “Honor your father and mother IF they are good to you!” Instead, God commanded us to honor our father and mother SO that He can bless US!
God has placed two important people in our lives, our father and our mother.
How they treat us never serves as the condition in which we choose to honor them, however, because we want to obey God, we choose to respect them and honor them all their days. Honoring our parents is so much more than one designated day of the year. Honoring our father and mother is a lifetime of unconditional obedience to God.
Perhaps you find yourself feeling isolated, unloved or abandoned like I was from a parent. I want to encourage you that you too can honor your parents. First, you honor them by granting forgiveness and second, you honor them by praying for them. God wants all of us to honor our parents, by doing so, our honor displays what we think of God.”
BLESSINGS, Laurie.
Clayton Adams has a message of faith he would like to share with the community. He would also like to hear from you. E-mail him at claytonpadamslll@gmail.com. His wife, Laurie, who contributed to this column, was recently published in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Wonder of Christmas: 101 Stories about the Joy of the Season.”
