Honor

This week is not formally how I planned things by my calendar. But I believe God used this to teach me some things about what it means to honor parents, namely my own parents. My Mom had cataract surgery on Monday and said she would stay at my Aunt's home while she recover for a few days. She asked me to stay with my Dad to watch over him and help take care of him. I wasn't expecting to stay the whole week. But I did. Dad has been struggling with a heart illness that has to be monitored with medicine. I could tell he missed Mom and wished she was home at our house. He said she probably needed a break because she is the nurse in our house for him and he has been weak and down since he learned about his heart condition/illness. So I tried my best to help make meals for him and tried to talk more with my Dad. I also got to spend some time with my nephew who is six years old. While I was at my parents house I also got to spend some time with my older sister and we went to some second hand stores. We really haven't hung out like that in awhile. Especially because she and her family lived in Atlanta, Georgia. All of this to say, God has been teaching me a lot about what it means to be available for relationships and what it means to honor those in our family. And so being there for Dad and being able to serve his needs while Mom was away, was one way I learned how to better honor him. When Mom came home she wanted to take Dad out and get him to walk around and get his mind off of all that consumes him at home. So we went to the mall together walked around, went to the Croqs Shoe Store to buy a pair of Croqs, and then went to the Food Court and had sushi together. Dad hadn't left the house in such a long time because of his concern for his illness. So it was a big deal getting him to go out with us and I sensed it was good for him to be out. We even went to the Vitamin World Store and he seemed like he was in better spirits after we got some vitamin supplements and taked with the Vitamin Consultant for awhile about what is best to take. It really hit me when I came home tonight and I reflected on how this day ended. Mom and Dad wanted to go to the grocery store and my brother was being rather selfish and didn't want to take them. So as I was about to leave to go home to my house, I offered to take them. So we made a trip together again and got in my car to buy groceries. I realized as I was driving them it was another way to honor them. As I walked down the grocery isle with my Dad, I watched his hands and noticed the same hands that held my hands when I was just a little girl, are now pale and worn. I noticed that Dad and Mom move much slower now, more gray hair, and need a little bit more TLC and quality time. I realized as I was driving home from the grocery store with them that spending this time with was another God-given way to honor them and show them love that I do not normally get to do on a regular basis. It was God's way of teaching me how to honor them.

What's Yours?

I must admit I am not one to always know how to start the conversation. But one thing I am learning is that every one has a story. A personal story. When I was in kindergarten I loved picture books (and still do). I think its because the images tell a story that words can not always best capture.

Sometimes we try to read people by the way they come across. Sometimes by their facial expressions...or what they say. Sometimes by their job or the way they dress, what they have or do not have (in America anyway). But those are all superficial ways of reading a person's life and not in any way defines a person's true identity, worth, or character.

I once heard a picture is worth a thousand words. It can say a lot about someone. But underneath, behind the photo, behind the song they sing or write or don't write or share, behind what is said or unsaid...there is definitely a story. This story is worth finding out. Its worth exploring and its worth hearing because its a unique story to that person. I love how there are some similarities in people's stories. But each person's story is still different in other ways too.

I know for me I am an extremely audio-visual learner. That is my special need as a life-long learner. I am someone who has to see many times or at least picture or hear in order to best understand what is being communicated. So even story books that are written this way have a way of teaching me things.

This is why I love the Parables in the Bible because they speak to me in ways that I can picture and understand meaning behind the story, even better than when I read other parts of the Bible sometimes. I also love the way the Psalms are like songs. They are stories of deep passion and deep emotion. Imagine films made about each one. How incredible that would be. Or a series of paintings or a series of orchestral scores of music. The Book of Proverbs are like stories too used metaphorically that leave me hanging on every word.

All of this keeps reminding me that every one has a story that can teach us something worth being heard and shared, something unique about that person's life, something funny that is worth sharing, something sad such as the pains of another's world, something exciting awaiting or...whatever it is. It makes me ask are we being wise stewards of our stories? And if so, then what's yours?