Christian Foundations
DEVOTIONAL ARCHIVE
by Dennis and Barbara Rainey
Do you want your children to regard you as wise when you are older? Do you want them to listen to you when you're as old as your parents are now?
Your children are watching you, and will follow your model. If you aren't honoring your own parents, then you run the risk of having your children do the same to you.
In the same way, if you casually dishonor your parents, your kids may dishonor you.
The story is told of a wealthy widower who left his property to his only son and daughter-in-law on one condition-he would be allowed to live in the country with them for the rest of his life:
After a few years, when the inheritance had been spent, the daughter-in-law got tired of having the elderly gentleman around and told her husband he would have to leave. The son agreed and broke the news to his father.
A short time later he and the feeble old man walked down the dusty road to a state-supported home for senior citizens. Being very unsteady on his feet, the father finally asked if he could rest for a few moments on a sawed-off stump to regain his strength for the last mile of the journey.
As he sat there, he suddenly put his head in his hands and began to sob. The son, pricked in his conscience, tried to make excuses. Finally, the father controlled himself enough to say, "I'm not crying so much because I'm going to this lonely home for the poor and unfortunate. I'm weeping because of my own sins. Forty years ago I walked down this road with my father and brought him to the very same place. I am now seeing the results of the evil deeds I have sown!"
The saying goes, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." The example you set for your children in honoring your parents will actually help determine your own future.
That God would give you creative ways to involve your parents in your family.
Discuss: How would your children complete this statement: My parents honor my grandparents by __________________.
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