My Parents

It's unlikely that I have enough time at the moment to say everything in my heart and mind, but I just had to sit and write for a moment. I know it's random to wake up on a Sunday morning thinking about how great your parents are, but I admit, that's what I was thinking about this morning.  So, I just wanted to take a few minutes to jot down some comments about how blessed I am to have  my parents.

Everybody's parents affect who they become. Even the parents who abandon their children forever leave their mark.  Our parents drastically affect the way we view the world, the way we interact with the world, and the way we handle ourselves.

My parents weren't perfect.  They never taught me some things that I'd wished I'd known. But I will say, that my parents never pretended either. They taught me honesty, the power of God's grace and forgiveness, and many other essential life lessons.

Recently, I thought to myself, my dad is perhaps one of the most Godly men I have ever known.  In just a brief conversation where I was, let's say kindly, "a bit upset", my dad graciously took the time to listen to me...rant... When he had a chance to speak he said, "first, give yourself permission to feel what you feel. You need to be able to go to sleep at night knowing that YOU are an ok person"...

How many times have I tried to just not feel what I felt!?  Then, what was brewing just keeps brewing underneath my skin.  But my father gives me permission to be honest about what it is I'm feeling... the good, bad, and the UGLY... Then he said, "Once you give yourself permission to feel what you feel, you need to evaluate how you are going to handle situations like this in the future."  Aw, the hard part.  Change...

My dad has so often been a source of compassion, and then encouragement to move forward.  And the beautiful thing is, many many times in my life I've seen my father forgive me for NOT changing, but consistently encouraging me to move forward... Makes me think of my Heavenly Father too...

Then there's my mother.  You will never meet a more compassion supportive mother out there.  My mom has always been supportive of the choices I've made. Even when I maybe choose something she's not completely comfortable with, she'll look for the positive aspects and encourage me.  She has instilled confidence in me and taught me to be strong in what I believe.  And along with all of that, my mother has never stopped praying for me.  Something I know I desperately need :).

Those are just a small picture of all my parents have meant to me and done for me.  Someday, I'd like to write more about many of the valuable lessons they taught me over the years, because in this culture, it seems many of these lessons aren't being taught anymore... Now, I must say, I have NOT by any means MASTERED all of these lessons (some seem like lifelong learning), but I'm grateful that they were instilled in me and I know God will continue teaching me and I plan to teach my kids these lessons too someday...

-Studying God's word and making my faith my OWN
-What it looks like to be respectful of others (and what it DOES NOT look like... those lessons hurt :))
-How to be committed to get past conflict to resolution
-Honesty... even when it means being real about my faults and failings
-Being myself and accepting myself, and even, having confidence in myself
-How to take care of children and give unconditional love to them (even when they are saying they hate you... trust me, with my mom's daycare, that happened and it hurt, but my mom taught me to love them anyway and to look past what they were saying)
-To love people unconditionally (because we all needed it too!!)
-To do my best in everything...(I only got in trouble for failing a test when I couldn't honestly say to my dad that it was my best... Then he'd be disappointed)
-And when I went to college... How to "do my best in everything" WITH what I had at that time... How to Prioritize... Sometimes you can't give everything a high standard of what I'd come to call "My Best"... so my dad taught me to prioritize and do the best with what I had.
-How to worship the Lord!
-How to serve others
-Generosity
-Forgiving those that hurt you
-How to eat healthy! (Thanks to Mom's daycare, I grew up with the pyramid and a diet that included it all)
-How to clean.... Yes, even those invisible germs and mites that hide in your homes...
-How to budget and be a good financial steward
-How God is in everything... with us through everything... and never leaves us
-How to say what I feel, instead of making accusations (Common scenario as children... Sarah: "She isn't being nice and she's always.....!!"  Dad: "How about instead say, "I feel like..." Oh how we hated it, but it made a difference and was worth it!)
-More than I have time to think of right now...

Thanks Mom and Dad for being the incredible parents you were!! Love you!!

Sarah