My parents September 26th, 1992.
God has been speaking to my heart lately about the word respect. The dictionary states that the definition of the word respect is: “an act of giving particular attention, high or special regard, the quality or state of being esteemed.” I often wonder what has happened to respect in our society. So many elderly or underprivileged are being tossed aside as if they and their lives didn’t matter.
It’s time for we as Christians to take a stand and make a difference. We need to make sure that we are leaving a legacy of respect for our children. Our children will learn more by what we do than what we actually say. What are we showing them? Are we giving of our time and selves to those older than us, such as our parents and grandparents? Or are we pushing them and their feelings aside, talking disrespectfully to them, and taking their needs for granted.
Children need to learn the art of respecting their elders. They need to learn “Please”, “Thank you”, “Yes mam,” and “Yes sir”. They need to show respect to them by holding doors open for them and giving up their seats when the elderly have no where to sit down.
We need to remind our children that the Bible commands us to honor our parents.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the
land the Lord your God is giving you.” – Exodus 20:12
The time we have on this earth is no more than a breath and it’s gone. Cherish the time with your mother and father, grandparents and other older individuals that you know. Place their hand in yours, and take in deep the lifetime of memories that you hold. Look them in the eye, and connect with their spirit as you let them know they’re a treasure and they’re more valuable than gold. Teach your children to honor, love and respect them. Make the time you have with them count.
The picture of my parents above was taken twenty years ago at our wedding. My father is no longer with us. He passed away from cancer 16 years ago. My mother is 80 years old, and one of the most precious gifts God has given to me.
None of us know the amount of time we have left with our family. When you are dealing with your parents treat them the way you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes. One day, not to far off you will be….and how you’ve treated your parents…. with or without respect…. is exactly how your children will treat you. What kind of legacy are you ready to leave?
~Now it’s time for a link up party !~
The purpose of Leaving A Legacy is three fold. It’s mission is to challenge it’s readers to work on leaving Godly legacies for their children, to be a place of encouragement for its readers, as well as sharing my journey as a cancer survivor. You can link up your posts that deal with leaving a legacy and ones that offer encouragement to the community.
This link up will be happening every Thursday at Leaving a Legacy. Please tell your friends, and join us on this journey of leaving a Godly legacy for future generations!
- To link up go to the sidebar and get the code for the Legacy Leaver Thursdays button, right click and “save as” on the code and then upload it into your post. Or you can provide a direct link somewhere in your post linking back here. That way other bloggers can join in too!
- Then copy and paste the direct link from your post, (not your blog url), into the linky tool below.
- In order to create an encouraging community here, please take a moment to visit the person in front of you. As time permits, I will read as many of your posts as possible throughout the week. Thank you!
For those of you that link up throughout the month, I will be choosing a “featured blogger”, for the following month. The featured blogger will be someone who actively participates in the link up, and who’s posts have really touched the community. They will receive free advertising for their blog on my sidebar for that month, and also be allowed to submit one approved guest post during that month.
The featured blogger for the month of September is Christina from To Show Them Jesus. Christina has a love for the Lord, and blogs about how to draw closer to Jesus in your every day walk with Him. Please stop by and be blessed by her words of wisdom.
I hope you have felt encouraged while visiting Leaving A Legacy. You can get additional updates that are not posted on the blog by connecting with us through Facebook and Twitter. You can also subscribe to Leaving A Legacy and have the latest posts delivered right to your email .
Many Blessings~
Linking to:
Thought Provoking Thursday
Denis in Bloom
Grace Cafe
Beautiful reminder, Shari!
Shari, this is something God has been teaching me as well recently. He is showing me that if I want my kids to respect their dad, I have to respect him (I do try to). He is also showing me just general respect for others. The other day my sister posted a picture to facebook that said, “If you have children please remember this: when you finish with them, the rest of the world has to live with them so please teach them to respect.” I think that is so true. Great encouragement today friend.
What a great idea…I will definitely save your info!
Michelle
http://normalchaosforamultitaskmom.blogspot.com/2012/09/as-much-grace-as-i-can-get.html
We need to take responsibility for our children and not leave their upbringing to the school or even to the church. Thanks for the great post & for hosting the linkup, & God bless!
Laurie