In church today our Pastor read to us 1 Timothy 5: 1-2. The scripture teaches us to treat men who are older than us as fathers and women who are older than us as mothers. Our Pastor also encouraged us to honour our own mothers and fathers. As this week held grandparents’ day celebrations in my son’s school, I wanted to dedicate this post to honouring my mother and father and my father-in-law.
In our society today, it is so easy to forget about our elders and the wisdom that they hold. So many times my parents have given me advice and I thought to myself that they cannot understand because they are not living my life and they cannot possibly relate to me and my struggles. I so easily forgot they they have lived their lives and they made their own mistakes and have gained great wisdom from those mistakes and they of course want the best for me and hope that I don’t repeat their mistakes.
Of course I want the the same for my own children and I would do anything for them, including dying for them. My parents have felt the same about me and until one becomes a parent you have no idea what that is like. We so soon forget the advice our parents gave us when we leave home to go to school. Or when we are in a relationship that is not good for us, they see it and we are blind to it until it falls apart. All they wanted to do is protect our hearts from getting broken but we had to make that mistake on our own. We forget their advice when we are going through parenting struggles and they are giving us sage advice.
To my mom and dad I want to say thank you for all you have sacrificed for me, for all that you gave me, for the wisdom that you have imparted in me, even when I didn’t follow it, for the loans, for the guidance, and most importantly, the love that you have given me.
I think that most of us want to be good people and make the right decisions but sometimes we are unclear what those decisions should be. I hope that you all have the influence of your elders in your life to guide you to the right path. And most importantly, you still have Jesus to guide you to the right path.
Thank you mom and dad and Pa for being there for the Hagenaars family and giving us a strong foundation to succeed in this world, no matter how different it is from the world that you all grew up in, we love you and honour you and your influence in our lives.
