You don’t have to stay messed-up

We may have had a bad start, but the champion within us can emerge if we have a red-hot crack at the promises of the Creator of the universe.

This is what the Work Manual has to say about our parents: ‘Honour (esteem and value as precious) your father and your mother—this is the first commandment with a promise—that all may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.’ (Ephesians 6:2-3, AMP). God said how we treated our parents was so important that he listed it among the top ten principles for real-deal life on earth – the Ten Commandments!

If ‘all’ is not going well with you, it’s worth a look at how you are going with ‘honour your father and mother’. Could the two be linked?

So you had a raw deal with your father. So you hate him, or you never want to be like him, or you don’t want to cast eyes on him for the rest of your life, or he’ll never get to meet his grandchildren.

Keep that sort of thinking and the only one who loses is you, not the old man who may have let you down. He may even be dead and buried, but your deep pain lingers on if you are not able to honour his position as your father.

Well, get over it! Honour means ‘honour the fact that he was your old man’ irrespective of every disappointing act he pulled on you or your mother or your family. Honour the position. He was your father. It doesn’t say you have to accept any of his wrongdoing.

We can wallow in the poop or we can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with it. If it doesn’t kill us, it can make us stronger and wiser. No pain, no gain! Come on, pull on your boots. It’s game on! Get moving – it’s worth it.