Honor Your Mother and Father DAWN LEWIS


Women’s Ministries President


ing about what the Bible says about mothers, fathers, and their children. We all know there are plenty of scrip- tures related to this. The first being in Exodus 20:12, where it is the fifth commandment and then again in Deuteronomy 5:16 where it states, “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Matthew 15:4). Ephesians 6:1- 4 also reminds us to honor our father and mother. With all of these vers- es telling us to honor our parents it would seem to be an important thing to do. What does it mean though? Honoring our parents means that


M


we appreciate them. I am reminded of all of the things my parents did for me. My father worked hard to pro- vide financially for our family while my mother worked hard in the home providing meals, keeping a clean house, and managing the income my father brought in. They both also supported my sister and me in all of our extracurricular activities like YPCU, Girl Scouts where they both served as


leaders, majorette prac-


tice, dance lessons, cheerleading, and band. They made sure we had everything we needed for these ac- tivities and attended countless little


other’s Day and Father’s Day are fast approaching. This


has had me think-


league football games, dance recit- als, parades, and high school football games. We also took vacations each summer and they provided educa- tion for us beyond high school. Now as an adult, I don’t know how they did it all but am so thankful for all that they did. I appreciate all of the experiences they provided and the memories I have. I especially appre- ciate my Erskine education with no loans to pay off! I hope that through the years, they knew that I appreci- ated everything they did. Honoring our parents also means


that we show respect to them. Our ac- tions and speech should not be disre- spectful towards them and when they grow older, or require it, we should be sure their needs are met. Jesus provides us with an example, as he made sure his mother would be taken care of (John 19:25-27). Throughout my life, I have tried to take care of my parents as needed. When I was four years old, my mother was sick in bed while pregnant with my sister. She wanted peanut butter crackers. I could reach the peanut butter and the crackers but not the knives. I made her crackers using my fingers! Much later, my father had a heart attack. It happened to be during the summer while I was home visiting from my home in Georgia. During his recov- ery, I cooked for my family and made heart healthy meals. I also did some of the jobs he had planned for that summer, like spreading gravel un- der the deck and mowing the yard. He is now in his early 70s, healthy as a horse, and continues to work just about every day. I do continue to check in on him regularly and of- fer my assistance to him, especially during significant weather events or other crisis type events. My mother had cancer in the early 90s and again


in 2009. In 1993, I was blessed to be home to help her after her mas- tectomy. I assisted her with many tasks while she was in the hospital and at home. By 2009, I had moved back to Virginia after being gone for many years. She got another cancer diagnosis and passed away months later. During that time I was able to take care of her during many hospital stays, illness at home, and eventually as she died.


My sister and I moved in with our


parents and helped with around the clock care for her. As her health de- clined, we were blessed to experience God at work.


Our mother moved


farther from this world and closer to Heaven. Honoring our mother by tak- ing care of her showed us things that others would find hard to believe. She would say she was so thirsty and before anyone could get her some- thing, she was thanking her mother, who was deceased, or she was thank- ing Jesus. It was truly an experience you can’t understand if you haven’t been through it. Truthfully, while I was doing these things, I didn’t think of it as honoring my parents but over time, I realized that was exactly what I was doing.?


Knowing, loving, serving, Jesus ARPWM knowing, loving, serving, Jesus May/June 2020 19


Women’s Ministries


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