“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ (Ephesians 6:1-3)

Well if my parents are reading this today, I hope they hold onto their seats, because they were right. Yep, my parents were right about so much, but as a child growing up this wasn’t something I wanted to admit, even when I knew deep inside that it was true. The fact is that failing, to some extent, is part of learning. And not that I was a bad kid but let’s just say I encountered lots of opportunities to learn. And certainly, there were situations that could have (should have) been avoided if I had obeyed. Now my parents were probably considered stricter than most. But looking back on my childhood it was easy to see that the rules were not overly burdensome, and when the rules were broken it usually led to some amount of hurt on my part. Thinking back on it all, it’s safe to say that I could have avoided most of my troubling situations if I just simply followed my parents’ guidelines. Now it would be fantastic if my own children could come to this same conclusion earlier than I did. But they’re good kids too, just in their own time of “learning.” But again, looking back on all the instructions that my parents provided, it’s easy to come to strong agreement with today’s verse. “Obey your parents, honor your father and mother” because it will ultimately work out for your benefit (even if you don’t realize it at that time). Today remember that God ordained the family structure and gave authority to parents to guide their children and lead their families. Thank you, Lord, for our parents – may God bless those of us who are parents now – and may our children understand the promise that comes with this command.