I was deeply touched by a sermon I heard in church a few days ago about the need for children, even if you have become a grandparent yourself, to respect and honour your living parents or anyone else playing that role in your life if your own biological parents are no more. The pastor said that failure to honour your parents is an example of one of self-inflicted curses that many bring upon themselves, sometimes unknowingly.
As I heard this, I was filled with a mischievous bent and decided to test my own biological children who are at present living far from me. I fired the following examination questions to each of them via phone:
(1) As a child of a father who has retired from service and is living far apart from you and your wife/ husband, mention five things you need to do for him to remember you always and to pray to God to bless you and your spouse.
(2) Mention three delicacies that you know your father loves from the hands of your mother, dwelling on one you consider his venison (a meal he eats and he is provoked to bless in the order of Isaac) and say whether or not you send the ingredients, or you make money available for its preparation for him from time to time.
(3) Comment on any three of these things that a child needs to do constantly to please his parents and receive their prayers and blessings which you in particular have been doing, placing emphasis on the level of your frequency in discharging these obligations, the level of your passion in carrying them out and the level of your sacrifice involved in this labour of love.
(4) From the sincerity of you heart, confess whether or not you are a mere lover of Father’s Day and Mother’s Day and from the sincerity of this heart it is only on those “World’s Days” that you remember to call your parents, especially your father who many children think do not need an expression of love and affection from their children. You people are more concerned about your “poor mothers” who you always say are often traumatized by your “wicked fathers”.
(5) And, if, from the integrity of your heart and the innocency of your thought, you have been negligent in carrying out all, or some, of the things you yourself have mentioned in answer to question (1) are the duties of a good child to his/ her parents, mention any two penitent, remedial and immediate actions that you will carry out without any further promptings to show your remorse and to win back their affection and the blessings of God upon your life.
(6) Mention a prominent Biblical character you know who rose to prominence on the altar of parental honour and the blessings that are a reward for it. You the candidate will earn higher marks for this if you go further than a well-known male figure and mention a female one who is also an example of this.
Warning: You are hereby alerted to note that failure to give a direct answer to any of these simple questions is a confession of guilt on your part that you have not been doing your duty fully or even partially by your parents, especially your father who possesses the God-given authority to bless and it stands. An answer of “Daddy, leave me alone” is totally unacceptable as you risk possible failure in this exam and maybe also a place in heaven!
Note further that this test is not meant to condemn you for every human being is a continuing work in progress until the day of his death and the goal of reaching perfection or near it in any aspect of life is not a dash but a marathon!
I received many interesting answers but all dwelt on the need (a) to call them (b) to send them recharge cards (c) to send them other gift items, especially during festive occasions (d) to visit them with your spouse/ children if you have the means (e) to always obey their commands even when you think those commands are not wise enough (f) to, from time to time, inquire after their health and general well-being even if you know that they enjoy the blessing of divine health.
God gave me a command in 2005 to begin a yearly staging of thanksgiving to him to appreciate him for the blessings of the previous year and to preach a message of appreciating him to this “ungrateful generation”. This, also known as “a generation of vipers”, contains some parents and children. One woman was recently in the Social Media shedding one kind of tears that I know not because she said she allowed her son to sleep with her because he told her a cult he joined commanded him to do so before he can become rich and prosperous. I think what irked this shameless mother is that her husband, the father of that her son, left her as a result of that unexplainable abomination. Many fathers too are known to sleep with their daughters. How can there be filial respect for parents if some of these take place?
