Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1–4, NIV 1984).
Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. (Proverbs 17:6, NIV 1984).
My Musings – Apparently Calvin is not old enough to know that real men don’t read instructions, or so it is generally believed. There were a lot of practical things I did not know when I became a parent. But the really important things I needed to learn were taught and modeled by my parents. But that was kind of like classroom instructions where you learn in theory. It is not until the real-life experience comes that you begin to fully understand and appreciate it.
“Every child’s heart has different instructions. They’re written through their eyes, in their smile, through their actions and in their tears. They just need parents who care enough to read them.” (Unknown). Despite all this, there are some parents, too many I am afraid, who don’t care enough to (or worse won’t) read these instructions. Ending up with exasperated or scarred children. I was blessed to have parents who taught me well, and children who taught me even better.
And then, if they are further blessed, parents become grandparents, and with a second chance to demonstrate they learned from whatever mistakes they made as parents from not reading or following instructions. If I can judge from how my surviving son Joel turned out, my wife and I didn’t make many (by the grace of God). I hope I honored my mother and father enough to enjoy a long life with my grandchildren.
My Advice – The truly important instructions for parenting are found in God’s Word. Real men (and women) care enough to read (and follow) them.
The Brew Is A Musing 