Global Day of Parents // Proverbs 1:8-9

Proverbs 1:8-9 (NIV) | Listen, my son, to your father’s Instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Happy Global Day of Parents! This celebration is relatively new as it was started by the UN in 2012. The idea behind it is to recognize the difficulty, yet incomparable blessing of being a parent. Most parents want to shower their children with love while giving responsibility. It starts out small and grows with abilities and mastery of previous challenges. The bottom line is no parent can fully prepare a child for the world. It can be cruel and unpredictable as norms change. This is why verses like the one we read for today are so important…they help us see the benefits of God’s eternal values in the face of changing customs.

How will you recognize Global Parents Day? If you still have your parents in this life, will you make a call or pay a visit? How about finding a way to remind your kids of God’s eternal love and purpose for living? In whatever ways you observe today, let’s make sure to honor our holy God who wants to teach and comfort us as a parent to a child. And children, may we remember the 5th of the 10 Commandments, one that is so important it also includes the reason for the commandment in the first place: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12, NIV).