“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

Prior to my marriage, I had often heard that becoming a parent was one of life’s major transitions. I often contemplated this idea as I spent those nine months adjusting to the changes
of emotion and body which all women go through while pregnant. But the point of awareness did not truly come until the hours following the birth of my wonderful, beautiful Hannah.
The moment they laid her on my stomach, as I watched her struggle for her first breath, and felt her move from being physically a part of me to starting her separate existence, images of
my own parents began running through my mind… my needs and how they responded or attempted to respond… and the tears began to flow, and flow and flow. I made it a point that
day to call my Dad and Mom and tell them how sorry I was for not understanding their joys and sorrows as parents, as two people who had given a major portion of their lives to raising
and loving me and my sisters and brothers.

O GOD, YOU ARE FATHER AND MOTHER OF US ALL, INDEED, THE  ENTIRE PHYSICAL WORLD. YOU KNOW THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE OF A PARENT FOR YOU GAVE YOUR ONLY SON THAT WE MIGHT KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE IN THE LIGHT OF YOUR FORGIVENESS AND LOVE. THANK YOU! AMEN.

– Shared by Cynthia Maddux