Vol III: #43 Honoring Parents

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“I just want to honor my father’s legacy,” quivered my foreign friend, his eyes a bit misty. How or why we found ourselves in a deep emotional conversation on a holiday didn’t matter. Thanksgiving Day is day of gratitude and nothing is more meaningful than when I a child looks at a parent- despite all their flaws, mistakes, and sins- and says “thank you.” Eliab’s father is near 80 year-old, and the days of offense are over.

In our age of outrage and offense, parents are the easiest targets. There’s no off-switch to a parent’s day. And, it’s why the command to honor them is crucial to life. When a parent has a weakness, we must endure it every day as child, be it a short-temper, a lack of physical affection, or using a shame as a motivator. In Eliab’s life, his father was demanding and stubborn. His father doesn’t support his life as a missionary and constantly asks when Eliab will move back to Brazil and run the family bakery. This lack of support would be cause for an Oprah Winfrey TV special for the average American, but not Eliab. Instead, he chooses to celebrate a man who taught him to work hard and build things that last.

May we all do that.

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