Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Ex. 20:12)
Britain is a remarkable country. It is so small and yet from its shores has come so much. Among the fascinating idiosyncrasies of this country is the concept of the honours list. Every year Her Majesty bestows on members of the British Empire recognition of their significant contributions in an area of life with acknowledgements starting from the MBE and going all the through to becoming ennobled that is to become a Lord or Lady. It is fascinating that in the day and age where the Empire is becoming a swiftly fading memory of yester-century the vestiges of nobility and honour remain in the fabric of the country. It is indeed still an honour to be recognised in the list. There is something about it in terms of prestige and status that marks someone out as worthy of note among their community.
In seeing the connection of the spiritual intent enshrined in God’s law and order there is a clarity of loving God and others that starts in the vertical and has its outworking in the horizontal. There is a clear outline of how these work. For in contemplating it, the state is as if the vertical comes from the vertical to the horizontal via the diagonal.
We do not see our Creator in the material, but we have a very real link with those who produced us in our parents. Where responsibility is taken and man and woman stick by the decision they have made, the offspring sees quite clearly – indeed usually the first people they experience are those who brought them into the world. As a result of that it is reasonable that for the people who brought us into the world loved and nurtured us to the point of any cognisance, there must be some level of acknowledgement accorded. That outward expression thus has a bearing on the invisible vertical connection in a way that helps build a foundation for the remaining horizontal connections that life will bring our way.
In a very real way the source of all we are starts and ends with our parents – whether biological or adopted there is that element in which without them we fail to exist. That may not be a good thing for the experiences of some, but life itself has no meaning without understanding the source and such is the opportunity for great joy in life that this opportunity in itself should allow the offspring to pay due homage to the source.
Due homage to the source from which life has come to be is not something that ends on adulthood and developing a family. The whole idea of being able to do anything is formed even if in rebellion to that which we experience and that which has been impressed within us from the source of who we are. That means we can learn how to be or how not be good parents from the way we’ve been parented. In a world where honour and respect are hard to come by and maintain, this foundational act and attitude from childhood helps to establish the attitude of gratitude to pervade all life.
Like acts of grace this is a recognition that there is nothing we did to deserve the love of parents, but being recipients of it when it is as it should be helps us to learn both how to receive it and then give it. What happens in the foundation stages of life evidently has a huge impact for what takes place afterwards how we value life itself … and it all starts with due homage and honour where its due.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
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