"My child, listen when your father corrects you.
Don't neglect your mother's instruction.
What you learn from them will crown you with grace
and be a chain of honor around your neck." 

 

These words from Proverbs 1 sure ring true with me.  Wejust recently buried my mom.  For a long she hadn't really been with us. She was the last of my wife's and my parents.  Yet I so often hear their words in my head and feel their influence in my bones.  

 

The writer of Hebrews, writing about what parents do, observes that "no discipline for the moment seems to be joyous, but grievous" (12:11)  I've lived long enough to see those who reject parental discipline, because of its short-term pain, pay a high long-term price.  Many people in their 20s, 30s, and beyond, are still living lives in which rebellion against what their parents were trying to teach them is a major controlling force.  Their lives lack that "crown of grace," and "chain of honor."  

 

It is obvious how these words apply to youngsters still at home, but what of us who are "on our own"?

Sadly, some have grown up in homes, or lack thereof, where nothing of value was given.  All of us, as adults, have to honestly evaluate what we were taught.  Some we keep and some we must reject.  Let us not live our lives in rebellion, though.  That needlessly burns a lot of resources.  Forgive bad parents--at least for your own welfare in your heart.  For the rest of us--and we are by far the majority--take the good you received from your upbringing and cherish it more than you would a valuable heirloom.  

 

As I think back, I can feel heft of that gold chain around my neck.  I pray you can, be it toward parent, or someone who stepped in a filled the role in your life, find a way to experience that.  It is a good thing.

 

It's STTA.