When I was 2, he lost his desk job so he worked 2-3 jobs a day to make ends meet. You name it, a cook, a postman, a bartender.
When I was 3, we moved to Malaysia in search of a better life.
He was punctual every evening after work to take my sister and I to the park. He fought traffic like a hero for more than an hour to spend 30 mins with us before sunset.
When I was 13, he was a protector of my innocence.
When I was 21, he gave me a bachelor’s degree.
Last year I was lost in my career, he gave me clarity and support to pursue something great.
He is my father. He is kind and generous. He is joyful and it shows on his face and in his voice. He puts his family first before any luxury in life.
He was a freethinker before God made his heart moldable and he helped us find faith in God.
Today I’ll share with you 3 real ways to honour your parents.
You cannot honour God without first honouring your parents
A younger more rebellious version of me in my teens used to wrestle with God. The voices in my head go “I love my God but I can’t agree with my parents”, “My parents make everything so difficult while God makes everything easy”, and “God my parents are literally making my life a living *capital H*”.
Sound familiar?
One can’t love the God whom they can’t see If they don’t love their parents whom they can see. This was said by a teenager in my cell group to another member. I believe such wisdom at a tender age only comes from God Himself.
Respect for parents is the basis for every other kind of respect and to every other kind of authority. Hence the first people we meet in our lives are our parents.
Forgiveness
Children describe their parents with words like “World’s Greatest” or “My Superhero”. Children put their parents on a pedestal. They grow very attached to them and want all their attention. When we were children, they feed us, clothe us, teach us, protect us and more. They are our go to SOS button and they are our Superheroes.
As we grow up, that expectation becomes embedded deep inside us, especially during times that we feel angry or disappointed with our parents. Those feelings can manifest in different ways and one of them is expecting our parents to be perfect. We find it difficult to accept that our once Hero who saved the world and can do anything is human, and can make mistakes.
As important as it is for parents to admit their faults, it is equally important for children to have forgiveness in their hearts. Keeping in mind that forgiveness may not be linear and children can forgive their parents before an apology is heard. As parents have a large capacity to love and care for us, we can also have a large capacity to forgive. This is indeed possible for we serve a forgiving saviour.
Fix your privacy filters
When you post something on Facebook, there are privacy options to apply: “close friends only”, “friends”, “friends except acquaintances”, “public” or “only me”. These settings help you decide who gets to see what you want to share. Likewise, there are certain matters that you should discuss within a closed circle. A disagreement that upsets needs to be talked about and not bottled up inside. However, it should not also be told to the world as this will hurt your relationship with your parents. Exercise your privacy filters to reach out to those who have listening ears and a desire to help the situation. Cut out responses that fuel the fire. This can be applied to any relationship and not just parents.
Throughout all stages of life, no matter your age, God calls for all His children to honour their parents. When we do this, it is an outflow of honouring Him. He calls us to be people who respect his sovereignty by respecting the parents he saw fit to give us. In what other ways is God calling you to honour your parents this parents day?
“Respect for parents is the basis for every other kind of respect and to every other kind of authority”
About the Author:
Victoria Lin is a concerned citizen writer born into the millennial generation. She recognises children and youth today find it very challenging to open up to real people and tend to turn and hide behind social media hoping to “self-heal”.
Victoria is a Communications graduate and is currently furthering her studies in Early Childhood Education.
Reposted from old website 17 May 2018