Wednesday, August 02, 2006

honoring a generation gone ...

I have many thoughts running all sides of my brain. What I was working on is put to the back burner and these new thoughts of about my grandma has come to the front. With her arrival to the golden shore, a whole generation has left. Even though I have experienced this twice before, this is different. All of my grandparents are gone. All I have now are the memories.

In my readings this year an interesting reoccurance of thought has come to me, honor your parents. It is one of the ten commandments. Why? Because God designed some pretty awesome benefits for us to enjoy.

* increases our own self worth
* helps you to understand your gender & how it 'fits'
* less physical stress b/c you are connected
* light heart
'The Gift of Honor'

I had some tough questions so I fleshed it out then I realized I had some work of my own.

: Q's :
How do you honor a parent who did you wrong like physical abuse or verbal abuse? How do you honor a parent who was never there for you? How do you honor a parent who 'used' you and failed to look after you? Can I honor a parent - in - law who damaged my spouse? Can I heal old wounds?

I have great parents so as I was fleshing out how I would honor a parent - in - law who damaged my spouse, I was convicted to look at a relationship struggle I was having. I kinda worked on it but then new things were tempting me away and I never got back to it. So here is the time to honor my grandma.

She was one out of twelve sibblings. (Well, actually there where 14 but 2 didn't make out of early childhood.) Her major quality was a strong dose of stubborness. Not sure how she got it. Hmmm, her stories do give me a key though, she learned it as a survival technique.

I must say stubborness has a negative tone about it. Believe me when my parents accused me of being stubborn when I was growing up, I was mortified. Looking back, stubborness in the right places keep you safe from harm.

Listening and watching her life and relating it to how I see stubborness. I have got a great teaching and I don't ever want to lose it. From one generation to the next and passing it on, I would teach my children the balance of being pigheaded.

the good
* protects you from sin
* tenacity when it comes to your dreams and passions
* will-power for the tough times
* perseverence when it comes to relationships
* persistent in learning new things
* firm in your faith - no turning back
* strong sence of self (what I call a good strong will)

the bad
* inflexibility when it comes to other's (not listening)
* hardness of heart
* resistance to His nudge
* obstinate against belief
* unchangeable in your ways
* headstrong and selfish

I strongly believe that having a stubborn streak in me is a gift. I have learned and I hope that I will continue to learn to use it for the good and remain open. I know with out a doubt that my stubborness has protected me as a little girl from those that would seek to harm me and make me stumble. As I grew up, I had let my guard down and found a tipping point. So now I seek a balance. When it comes to my personal faith, I will be stubborn and hard on myself to protect my heart, the wellspring of life. As I age I want to remain alert to keeping the balance of pigheadedness and openmindedness. This is what I hope to pass on to the next generation.

The past few months I have found comfort in His Words about 'from one generation unto the next generation'. There seems so many promises flowing down from those who have gone before. It moves me to make my generation count so that I can pass down greatness from Him above. I want to pass on the Message of Salvation, the priviledge of JOY, LOVE, & DELIGHT, and this amazing Adventure and Mystery! So I celebrate my pigheadedness and my openmindedness. I celebrate BALANCE.

this is the day!

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