Day #30
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be named woman because she was taken from man.” That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:23-24
Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:12
Dear God, help us, for families are complicated! In our marriages, no matter how we try, we all (at least sometimes) get caught somewhere between properly leaving our fathers and mothers, whilst still honouring them – especially as they get older and begin to need us more. Help us each to find freedom from those unhelpful habits and destructive patterns of behaviour which we have brought with us from the homes in which we were nurtured. May we always remember the good things, but without that cloying nostalgia which can so sour the present, for we are not those children any more. May we all, as husbands and wives, be joyfully and unashamedly united, recognising that sometimes, in spite of our best intentions, we will disappoint our parents and infuriate our own children. Forgive us, for we are only human after all, and nothing reminds of that more than our families.
Amen.