[ how to: live a long life ]

   Ephesians 6:1-3 has been on my heart for a few days. So here it goes.

   ¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. [NIV]

    Wait, what?

   Yeah, Paul not only just quoted one of the Ten Commandments, saying that it's right to honor your parents -- but by doing so, God will bless you with a longer life. Well shoot kids, I'd say that in itself is a good motivation to honor your parents.

   But what is honoring your parents? I think we tend to automatically refer to "obey", and leave out the honoring part. What I'm getting at is that just because you obey doesn't necessarily mean you're honoring them.

   "Attitude is the clothing of the heart", one of our speakers wisely stated.

   So in that, your attitude towards your parents when you obey them will determine whether or not you're honoring them. What's your attitude telling them?

   Honoring your parents doesn't just apply when they're around either. You know, one of the biggest things I noticed when I began high school [after being home schooled for 5 years] was that very few kids honored their parents. They trashed them verbally; few had good things to say about them.

   Granted, there are some pretty horrible parents out there. Ones that have hurt their children emotionally, physically. I know that. I know people that have experienced that, seen what it did to them, how they had to overcome that, forgive them, and move on with their lives.

   My parents are amazing. I've grown up in a strong household, always knowing who I am, where I belong, and where I stand. I've never had to doubt that I'm loved.

   So it broke my heart to hear and see how kids grew up without any of that. And because of that, hate or have no respect for their parents [or one parent].

   What I'm trying to get at is that the Bible doesn't make conditions for who your parents are, or what they've done. It says to simply honor them. It doesn't say "honor them if they deserve it." I mean, if it comes down to that, then none of us deserve God's mercy for anything.

   Yeah that's tough to swallow for a lot of people. I understand that. I don't have to grow up in a crappy household to understand that. I've experienced it in other ways.

   That being said, I just really want to encourage all of you to think about this. To reevaluate your actions, your attitudes. This is something that's really kept me in check. And something I've had to work a lot on, and continue to do so. Attitude used to be a big problem for me when I was younger.

   For some reason, honoring and obeying my parents has always been a big thing for me. I would feel so horrible if I disobeyed them -- especially when I was younger. I've never been rebellious.

   There was only one time that I have ever outright come very close to dishonoring my parents. I wanted a tattoo. [Kind of a cliche rebellious thing, I know.] My dad and I had this unspoken agreement that I can do whatever I want when I move out, and up until this point, I had no problem with that. But I was adamant about getting this tattoo, and it had to be before I left for Kona.

   Long story short, I had never been so not myself in my entire life than during those couple of months. It was so against my nature to blatantly disregard my parent's request, and it effected our relationships. And myself, especially.

   It took a while for me to recognize this, of course. Looking back now, I realize what it taught me.

   Obeying and honoring your parents effects the rest of your life. For me, it began to spill into other areas of my life. I remember treating other people poorly, being in a bad mood practically 24.7 -- the list goes on. There's a reason why the Bible says to obey and honor your parents.

   When you obey and honor them, you're obeying and honoring Him. You're honoring authority, both your parent's and God's.

   I can't say I'm glad that happened, but I'm glad for the sake of it teaching me just how important it is. And how important it really was to me. Not to mention, God too.