(part 2 of 14 of the “Honor Dare“)
Dare: Do something kind for your parents.
Verse: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32)
Kindness can be a hard thing, especially in relationships where there is a structure in place that says, “you do what I tell you to”. Our natural tendency to sin in our attitude, the one that says, “whatever, I’m old enough to make my own choices now.” When those feelings creep in and start to grow deeper, we can easily start forgetting about kindness – because if we did, we’d have to worry about serving someone else.
I remember a profound thing that Laura’s mom used to say to her whenever Laura would call home from college upset, depressed or angry about something. After listening for a while, Laura’s mom would end the conversation with, “Tell you what, how about you go do something for someone – go serve someone else for a little while, and then call me back.” Inevitably, when Laura would do that (help a friend, go work in a soup kitchen, etc.) – there wasn’t much of a need to call her mom back to complain or grip again. Serving others does that – puts our current agenda, wants, desires and general “me first”-ishness into perspective – makes them all seem pretty small.
And so, what better way to serve someone then those that have quite literally sacrificed a lot for you to exist and survive. Cut them a little slack for once and do a good turn their way. And remember, this isn’t a dare where you check something off the list and then forget about it, it’s a dare where you build each day upon the next. So, today, as you set the table, clean your room, restock the wood pile or cook everyone’s favorite dessert for dinner – all without being asked – make sure you do it with a spirit that says “Yes, mom” and “Yes, dad” through the whole thing.
Just remember, if they look at you a little weird – if means you’re probably doing the right thing. 🙂