Lent Day 5

The Fourth Commandment is "Honor Thy Father And Thy Mother". So why should you honor them when you don’t like some of the things they do? Well, for starters, can you think of anyone else who would be willing to die for you, right now?They gave you the gift of life. If you are not happy with that gift, would you rather be born an earthworm, so you can be plucked from your home, pierced with an iron hook and dangled in the water until some fish eats you? No, you would rather be the fish, right? But if the bigger fish don’t get you the humans will. So you would rather be a human, even if you happen to live in a place like Ethiopia where there are no fish to eat, or anything else to eat for that matter. No, you would rather live where there is food, even if you happen to live in Iraq where every step you take could set off a land mine. No, you would rather live where it is safe, even if it is Siberia where the temperature is a bit uncomfortable to say the least. No, you would rather live in the good old USA, even if you are homeless and broke. No, you would rather have a home and money, even if you happen to be blind, or deaf, or paralyzed, or mute. No, you would rather have the gifts of sight, hearing, motion, and speech, even if you happen to have health problems like cancer, AIDS, diabetes, asthma, food allergies or various other diseases. No, better to be healthy, even if you happen to live in a ghetto where dangers abound. No, you would rather live in a suburb of one of the world’s greatest cities where it is relatively safe and has all the conveniences you could ever need. Wake up. Over 99 percent in the people in the world wish they had things as good as we do. If we cannot give thanks for that, perhaps we take too much for granted, and our thought processes are in need of adjustment.