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December 25, 2008
It's Never Too Late To Have a Happy Childhood
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Honoring Your Parents
I've seen more than my share of familial estrangements, especially client-parents whose relationship with their adult children (and by extension, often their children's children) have been hacked apart. Half the time blame is laid on an in-law. It's not my job to put families back together, but I do what I can. Being human, I often find myself forming opinions-albeit based on only one side of the equation.
If you are an adult you must chart your own path and stop blaming your parents for your own shortcomings. From a strictly biblical viewpoint, nowhere is it written that "you must indulge your children." One of the Ten Commandments is "honor your parents." That usually works well. It doesn't say you have to love them. It doesn't even say you can't hate them.
Honoring your parents may not be the answer to every parent-child estrangement, but it usually works well as an overriding principal to those who blame their parents for everything. Look to yourself instead. Honor the people who did the best job of raising you that they were capable of doing given their own shortcomings. You will never regret taking the high road.
It's Never Too Late To Have a Happy Childhood
Posted by: Kathryn Gooss
December 25, 2008
I enjoyed reading this article by Eric because it echoes a principle that I have practiced for awhile, and that I believe allowed me to finally find peace with my parents.
I once saw a bumper sticker that said, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood" You may ask how is that possible? For me, it's by following this principle of Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. I can't change my childhood, but I can choose to remember the good things. Both my parents have been gone for some time, but I like to think that even today when I remember the good things, no matter how small, I have a positive and honoring connection to them. Thank you Mom and Dad.
