I don't know that I've done anything as drastic as what's in this Bible verse, but I did realize recently that I have made my dad the scape goat a few times too many. Someone was asking me to get together, but it just felt overwhelming. Instead of just saying no not right now, but I appreciate your offer, I said something like the following:
"I can't get together right now, because I can only go see my dad on the days that I don't pick up the grandsons from school, I go see my dad two days a week. I usually go up one day and see him, my husband and I spend the night at a local hotel, and then we see him again the next morning before heading home."
Now, that's really the truth, that's exactly what we do and I really look forward to it every week. The thing that's a problem is two-fold. One is, my not wanting to get together right now, didn't really have anything to do with going to see my dad. It just felt overwhelming to stick something else in my schedule.
The second thing is, she might have gotten the impression that I feel burdened by going to see my dad two days a week, when in fact, that's far from the truth. My husband and I really look forward to seeing him. Was I being deceitful when I responded to her? Well, yes and no. No, because what I said was the truth, but yes, because I used seeing my dad as an excuse for not getting together right now. I really didn't mean to do that, but it was a handy thing to say, which probably makes it worse. This gives me so much to be prayerful about, because I want my actions to be aligned with what Christ and my dad would want. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. Matthew 15: 4
Since these are examples of how I've applied these Bible verses to my experience, they may not reflect the whole meaning of the verse.
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By: WGAL News 8, Katelyn Smith & Matt Barcaro, Music & Memory, Bethany Village via You Tube
