PARENTS

        The Fifth Commandment: Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12). If raised in a loving, respectful, two parent home this commandment is pretty straightforward, at least on the surface, but what about those who were not? Does God expect us to honor an abusive or absent/missing parent? Yes, since they are children of God just as we are, but that does not mean we have to invite them into our lives. Living on the Spiritual Basis, we recognize their shortcomings, defects of character, and release them with love. Do not misunderstand: releasing someone with love does not wipe the slate clean, absolving them of the work they need to do. If they were emotionally and/or physically abusive and show no interest in changing, releasing them with love does not require us to place ourselves in a position to be harmed out of “honor.” Additionally the absent parent who suddenly appears, their only passport having been a sperm donor or 9 months in their womb, must be weighed accurately in spiritual light since our first inclination is to allow them emotional access in a way we would never grant a “stranger.”

      To be clear since emotions run very high on these issues: Exercising forgiveness and releasing with love does not mean we forget and blindly place ourselves in a position to be harmed. Loving all spiritually, in Source, does not mean we have to like them or sit across the table from them on Thanksgiving. We must release all with peace, visualizing God’s love and guidance for them in prayer and meditation. However, never lose sight of the truth that the leopard, no matter how much we may wish it, rarely changes its spots. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”

      In light of the good news the carpenter brought to the world, this commandment takes on a deeper meaning as well. The greatest teacher of all cleared up any ambiguity about our relationship with the Divine when he delivered the Sermon on the Mount 1500 years after Moses came down from Mt. Sinai. We are all children of God, literally, and by honoring Him, Our Father, placing our will and life in His hands, do we find true place, freedom and long life in  spirit as we trudge the road of Happy Destiny, eyes wide open.