Monday, May 12
The Transparent Parent
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
James 5:16a
Jay Kesler told of a father who had been raised as an orphan. When he had children of his own, he didn't know how to handle them. He would alternately ignore them and discipline them in anger. Once after a particularly embarrassing loss of temper, the father put his head in his hands and with desperation in his voice said, "Son, you don't understand. I've never had a father. I have never seen how fathers do it. I feel totally helpless. I don't know how to be a parent. I want to be a good parent, but I don't know how. Help me!" The boy took his father in his arms and the two of them wept together. From that point on, father and son were close.
None of us is perfect; and sometimes our best approach is to be honest, transparent, and down-to-earth. Our children and our friends need to see our humanness; and transparency will keep us honest with ourselves, our God, and our friends.
With whom can we be honest today?
I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others that at last their true nature could not reveal itself . . . . He who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy man of all.
Søren Kierkegaard
Read-Thru-the-Bible
Ezra 3:1 - 6:22
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