Allow your parents to be grandparents and, if you have to, help them understand how to be good grandparents. If you are in that group of people for whom grandparents are not safe or healthy people for your kids, then invite them to special events like baseball games, church events, and birthday parties. If your parents are good people, then make doubly sure that your kids know how important their grandparents are. Also, remember that your kids are learning how to honor you by the way that you honor your own parents.

Honoring my parents is pretty easy. They are great people who love me and love my family well. They brought me up in church and taught me to love Jesus and hard work. But, not everyone has the same privilege. Some of you do not have supportive parents like I have. Maybe your parents didn’t lead you to Jesus or teach you the value of a healthy family. Maybe honoring your parents is hard. And yet, there it is in God’s word:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:12

Regardless of whether you find it easy or hard to honor your parents, here are five steps to help you do it better.

Schedule phone calls. I call my mom on Sunday mornings as I drive in to the church. Every Sunday (well, every Sunday prior to COVID, our schedule changes at the church have interrupted some of my calls) my mom expects to hear from me.

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