The real, the symbolic

After Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:1-4 

Honor your parents,

even if they fail,

even when they fail,

because they will,

because they do. But

they are in place

for a reason, to provide

structure and to nourish,

to bring up and sustain,

to rain and create

stability, a picture

of the divine, a symbol

of all authority on this earth.

Likewise, parents and

authority are not

empowered to vex,

to anger, to betray those

entrusted to them. Instead, 

they are to lead,

they are to love,

they are to nurture.

 

Photograph by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

A Father’s Prayer for His Son – Tim Challies.

 

Getting Found: A Three-Year Anniversary – Martin Shaw at the House of Beasts & Vines.

 

A Dedication to My Wife – poem by James Matthew Wilson at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin). 

 

The Miraculous Phenomenon of Post-Hurricane Weather – Samuel Schaefer at Front Porch Republic.

 

A Sword in the Devil's Heart: Halloween Sermon by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus – Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.