Family

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I remember it like it was yesterday….

Mistake #1: I had turned 12, and felt that I was now an adult so I no longer needed to tell my mother my whereabouts. I felt that I did not have to answer to anyone. So, I decided to walk to the local corner soda shop and get an RC Cola. Mom said “where are you going?” as I put on my sweater and reached for the doorknob.

Mistake #2: I answered, without even a hint of respect “What’s it to you, I don’t have to tell you everything I do, or everywhere I go. It’s not like I need your permission or anything!”

The next few minutes were a blur as the wrath of my horrified mother came down upon me with the swiftness of a mountain lion on its unsuspecting prey. She paddled me like I had never been paddled before!

Mistake #3: After I realized my error, I laughed at her and told her she looked ridiculous spanking a "grown woman". What an idiot! May I take this moment to interject that it is never wise to laugh at one’s disciplinarian, unless you would like a double dose.

…. When the incident and punishment were over, something else was over too. My childhood. You see, the sin of rebellion – although displayed on numerous prior occasions – was in full bloom that day and it was as though I felt a portion of my heart grow cold. A barrier was there that was not there earlier. I had hardened my own heart.

My relationship with my mother was never quite the same after that. I had disrespected her, antagonized her, and then I humiliated her by laughing.

It was one of those life experiences that you wish you could take back – you regret that you ever allowed it to happen. But it did.

Years later, after I met Christ, I understood much better when I read in Proverbs and it talked in so many places about how a child is to think and act toward their parent. Then in Ephesians when the child is admonished to honor their father and mother…the memory of this event, and sadly, others, came flooding in my mind. This time, rather than just remorse, I was offered opportunity to repent and be forgiven.

Oh the cleansing flood that true forgiveness brings. Oh the joyful heart that is washed whiter than snow by the blood of the Lamb.

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