Wednesday 12 October 2022

Thought for Wednesday 12 October

 Proverbs 1:8-9 (New Living Translation)

Listen, my child, to what your father teaches you.  Don’t neglect your mother’s teaching.  What you learn from them will crown you with grace and clothe you with honour.

I regularly thank God in my prayers for the parents he gave me.  Apart from a slight ‘blip’ during my teenage years where the relationship between my mother and I occasionally verged on the ‘tempestuous’, I had a great relationship with my parents, and I miss them to this day.

There’s loads of things I would love to have asked them now that didn’t even cross my mind when they were around.  Maybe the curiosity within us all grows with age. I have precious memories of time spent with them and I don’t mean things like getting taken abroad on holiday, going to Disney, going for runs in the car, being given extravagant presents at Christmas time or being handed lots of pocket money because none of that ever happened.

When I think of teaching, I think of the formality of a classroom where a qualified man or woman tells me things I should remember about a variety of subjects and at some point, it is put to the test whether I have been paying attention, or not.

The education we receive from parents isn’t like this.  It is more a case of gradually absorbing skills, behaviours and abilities by watching them, following their example and copying them.  This leads to saying the things they say and doing the things they do and treating others in the way they did.

I am well aware that not everyone has the same parental experiences.  Sometimes one or both parents are not around due to work commitments or some other reason and the teaching that is usually received from parents may instead come from a grandparent, an adoptive parent or even a child minder.  I am also aware that some parents do not always set the best example for their children, some have what is described these days as ‘chaotic lifestyles’ with their children missing out on proper parental teaching as a result.  We need to include families like this regularly in our prayers.

No doubt there are times when caring parents get things wrong but none of this exists in the memories, I have of mine.  There was no misdemeanour that I committed that was not entirely forgiven.  When reflecting today on some of my experiences and I’m sure you will all have similar, the thing they taught us over and above all else, was quite simply, love.

Similarly, we read about our heavenly father in Hebrews 10:16-17, ‘This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts so they will understand them, and I will write them on their minds so they will obey them’ then he adds, ‘I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds’.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the love we experience from our parents, and we pray for those children who never come close to experiencing this type of love.  We pray that in these modern days with so many worldly distractions that you will find a way of giving young folks the desire and opportunity of getting to know you.    We pray for parents of all ages and Lord, we would pray that you would come into their hearts and give them the ability and wisdom to live their lives in ways that are a sound example for their children to follow.              Amen

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