I’ve been thinking about respect lately. In our small group in Washington, we studied/discussed a great book on marriage called Love and Respect. I realized more than ever the importance of wives respecting their husbands. I had to examine my heart and my words a great deal. But today that’s not where I’m going …

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Some would say that the “younger generation” doesn’t have any. But I’ve been wondering if it’s because they don’t see it actually modeled by the “older generation(s)”. I recently ran across a really insightful article about the subject and I nodded my heart in agreement. 🙂

“As a parent I can surely tell you that when your kids don’t show you respect, it is really hard not to want to ground them until they’re 30—at least. We all try to instill the importance of honoring authority into our kids. Yet, we all have more than a little trouble honoring the authority that’s over our own lives. The truth is, God has placed an entire network of people in this world into positions of authority…
Coming under authority and showing respect isn’t easy. Nobody wants to be told what to do or how to do it. We criticize anybody that makes a decision we don’t like. It’s not right. It’s not fair. It’s not good for me.
In our country we’ve taken our right to free speech to an unbelievable level. We openly criticize our leaders, our country, our values, and pretty much anything else that doesn’t line up with what we want. We don’t see anything wrong with complaining, whining, and showing disgust to anybody who will listen.”

This is so true! I often see as much disrespect from adults as I do their kids … and it’s all over Facebook and Twitter. God being my helper, I hope to speak respectfully to and about those in authority (Rom 13, Heb 13) – which includes police officers, the President of our nation, and our church leaders (pastors/elders). I personally think that the Church should lead the way in this. Sadly, we are too often doing the most harm. 😦