4 Gifts of Honor: Part 4 Blessing

Today we look at the last of four gifts that encapsulate key factors that enabled me to successfully honor my parents.

There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers. There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift! There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind. Proverbs 30:11-14

When’s the last time you said “thank you” to your dad or mom? We can be so quick to criticize or find fault with our parents and how they raised us. It is even legendary how people will share their mother-in-law horror stories. By doing this, are we cursing and not blessing our mother and the mother of our spouse?

The mouth – and more specifically the tongue – is a powerful thing. These verses should certainly give us pause, and rightfully so. Do we bless or do we curse?

One practical way to bless is by writing special letters that express gratefulness to them.

1 Thess 5: 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

First thank the Lord and then, from your heart of gratefulness, thank your parents.

Going to college quickly opened my eyes to the blessing of home and I was quick to express this to my parents – for all they’d done for our life and family. But as a believer, expressing gratefulness took on new meaning. I’d take opportunity on their birthdays or anniversaries, Mother’s & Father’s Day to let them know they were appreciated not just with a gift but with words that conveyed the special place they held in my life and the life of my family.

Often we are slow to express our appreciation for so many things. I’ve heard many express regret after the death of a parent that they had never shared how much they really appreciated them. I’ve also heard some share how very much it meant to a parent when they did share. One man going through his dad’s Bible discovered a rag-eared copy of a letter of gratefulness he had sent to his dad years earlier.

Your expression of gratefulness might include memories, lessons learned from them, or fun times shared. You may even choose to print and frame it if that would fit them. One man did this and soon found it displayed in a prominent place and being shared with family, television repairman, plumber, and countless others who passed through his mom’s kitchen.

Additional Resources

God’s word instructs us “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” 1 Peter 3.9. Dr. Gary Smalley and Dr. John Trent are master teachers at helping people learn how to bless since the 1986 release of their book The Blessing. Quote from the cover of that book:

“No matter your age, the approval of your parents affects how you view yourself and your ability to pass that approval along to your children, spouse, and friends, Many people spend a lifetime looking for this acceptance the Bible calls . . . The Blessings.”

The book was updated in 1993 under the title The Gift Of The Blessing and just in 2004 as The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance available in paperback. This year an unabridged audio edition was released. The workbook provides a practical means of leaning to give the blessing as you are guided to put the principals into personal actions. No matter which you choose, you will learn about how God can change both your motivations and actions to begin blessing others.

All three of these book are about the same, just revisions and updates of the original 1986.

More in the Series

• Part 1: The Gift of Compassion
• Part 2: The Gift of Listening
• Part 3: The Gift of Forgiveness

The titles of each of these gifts came from an online sermon about treating parents right.

Tagged as: bible verses, conversations