The Grace of Godly Parents

 

“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching…”

—Proverbs 1:8

I am all too keenly aware that not everyone had the opportunity to experience the blessing of godly parents. For those of you who may have had a less than ideal parental encounter, please know that your Father in heaven understands and willingly embraces you as His dearly loved children. He will be a father and mother to you in ways that earthly parents could never have been—no matter how wonderful you might have wished them to be.

For those of us who were blessed to have godly parents, we should daily remember them with thanksgiving in our hearts for their faithful witness to the gospel of God’s mercy, grace, and unfailing love. I am so very fortunate, as an only adopted child, to have been chosen by two godly people who desperately wanted to share the love God had placed in their hearts with a child. They loved me with a deeply caring love that truly shaped the rest of my life.

In so many ways, my mom and dad mirrored what they experienced at the hands of our loving Father God. Because they were somewhat older than many parents at that time—mom was 42 and dad was 40 when they adopted me—they also brought a life-experience and maturity that many parents in their twenties had not yet achieved. That there were no longer any children in my immediate neighborhood and the fact that I spent most of my time with adults, also profoundly shaped my life.

King Solomon knew how important godly parents are to the spiritual formation of a child. Notice what he wrote, as recorded in Proverbs 1:8-9:

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Think about the image that Solomon paints with his words: a father’s instruction and a mother’s teaching are “a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.” Said another way, your parents’ teaching are like the finest jewelry given to signal the honor of being someone of significance and importance in the kingdom where you lived as a child.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about my parents. They blessed my life in so many, many ways. I am deeply grateful for all the sacrifices they made and the great love they showered on me during my formative years.

Sadly for me, my father has been in heaven since December 15, 1981, and my mother has been in heaven since December 16, 1985. But, not a day goes by that I don’t think of something one or the other of them taught me. Their words guide my life to this very day.

As we begin another day of life, let’s remember the profound influence we have on the children around us. Let’s do our best to mirror the way Jesus related to children. Let’s show His love to the children who cross our pathway—and to the children that God may have placed in our charge. In so doing, we bring honor to God and a blessing to those children.

 

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