happy anniversary to my parents, where have the years gone?

Proverbs 6:20  NLT

My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

The picture above was taken before they were married in the late 1950’s.  In the background is a place my dad worked at for short time.  The car was dad’s as well.  They look so young and have the world before them.

This past Sunday was their 53rd wedding anniversary.  That is right … 53 years.  What an incredible testimony it is to me and my brothers as well as to the world of how you can make it through the ups and downs, the struggles with health and death and famine and keep on together.  My mom and dad have taught me so much and demonstrated what enduring love looks like and how it interacts with others.

One of my brothers sent me an awesome gift this week.  He also gave one to my other brother and to my parents.  It is the same picture in an awesome canvass print to hang in our house.  Within the picture are so many things that ring in my head and my heart.  But at first I have to admit that I am so blessed.  God gave me a family.  He gave me a family that has stuck with me for more than four decades.  Life has been full of blessings and trials, but it has always been blessed.

Within that picture are the promises of a great picture.  Within that picture is the truth of how God puts people together to complete and strength each other.  Within that picture are reminders of the past, both the good and the bad.  Within that picture if you look real close is the beginning of myself and my brothers.  Within that picture is wrapped up loads of what God destined this couple to experience and to live out.

I am blessed, and I would like to honor my parents.  In fact my wife and I are extra blessed because her parents have been married over 54 years.  Both sets of parents have been together for a total of 107 years.  That’s a long time.  But if you sit with my wife’s parents or my parents you are going to talk about and hear about God and faith and family.

Thank you for teaching me to teach others, mom and dad.  Thank you for loving me even when I thought that your love was something I didn’t deserve, mom and dad.  Thank you for believing in me then and now.  Thank you for loving each other, serving each other and for making marriage work through more than five decades.  I love you both and honor you on this occasion.  Happy anniversary, and I pray that Julie and I will be able to follow in your footsteps.  We love you both!

Matthew 19:19  NLT

Honor your father and mother.  Love your neighbor as yourself.

We honor God by honoring our parents.  It is also an issue of obeying God by obeying our parents.  If we want the blessings of God on our homes and our lives, we will honor the people that God tells us to honor.

Ephesians 6:3  NLT

If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”