My Parents

My Parents in Rome, Italy

~Posted by Ben

This is my blog post for the month. And since we are in-between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I thought I would do a tribute to my wonderful parents Mark and Betsy.

                              

My parents recently celebrated 25 years of marriage with a trip to Italy. In 25 years they have finished grad school, held multiple jobs, lived in 7 places in 4 states, owned 5 homes and had 5 kids! Needless to say, God has done A LOT in their lives over the past 25 years. I have been blessed to witness the last 17 of those 25 years. I have seen them go through times of joy and times of sadness, times of peace and times of stress, and they have stuck together for better or for worse, for rich and for poor, in sickness and in health…and will stay together until death do they part. For them, marriage was not a contract, but a covenant made before God.

Sadly, we live in a world of fractured families. Our world is plagued with divorce, single parent homes (particularly single mother homes), illegitimate children, and in very rare cases, even homosexuals raising adopted children. It is becoming less and less common to find families that are intact; families as God designed them. I remember as a little kid having friends who came from homes with divorce or were being raised by only one parent (I actually still have friends like that, I think we all do). I did not view myself as superior to them simply because I came from an intact family, but I remember feeling sorry for them. Sorry that they did not have both a dad and a mom in their lives. I couldn’t imagine life with either a mom or dad. Or a life where I had both parents but they did not live together. I could not imagine the feeling of knowing that my parents weren’t together anymore because they no longer loved each other.

I’ve been blessed by God to grow up with the security that I will never have to experience that pain. But I pray for those who do. I’m not inferring that it is impossible for a person who has grown up in this situation to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives and live in a godly manner. God’s grace is sufficient to use people from difficult backgrounds for His glory. But it is still not the design He had for families.

I have been blessed to be raised in a family where my parents truly loved each other and loved us and taught us to love one another. My parents have worked overtime to insure that we are being raised to love God and others above ourselves. To love one another with a sacrificial love that cares for others’ needs above our own. To love people the way Jesus loved people. Not just in word, but in deed (I John 3:18). They taught us that love is a verb, not just an emotion. This kind of love is what has given me great security over the years. No matter what came our way, I knew that our family would band together and by God’s power make it through anything that life threw at us. I thank my parents for being who they are. For loving us, for caring for us, for teaching us the ways of God, and for instilling in us Biblical ethics such as the fruit of the spirit. Above all, I thank them for setting an example for my siblings and me of what a family who follows God looks like. They showed us what must be done to preserve a Christian heritage in a time of sinfulness and compromise. I thank them for showing me Christ in their lives.

Mother’s Day has passed, Father’s day is approaching. I would encourage you to give thanks to God for the parents He gave you. Not because they are perfect, but because He knew that you need them in your life. I encourage you to thank your parents for all that they’ve done in your life. For the example they’ve set, and for loving you even when you weren’t always easy to love. I thank God for my parents, and will do so every day that I live! God bless you all!