Honor your father and your mother, ...

There was a time in my life when I was able to lift my parents up on a high pedestal and look up to them as I would look up to God. They held a position very similar to what Stott described: people that "stand in the place of God and mediate His authority to us. When I was young, this was true. They were the highest tangible source of authority of which I wanted to obey. So much so that I was convicted by the idea that I loved my parents more than I loved God. I was troubled but later comforted by the realization that I am not called to love my parents less but that I am to grow to love God more. So much more that my love towards my parents would seem like hatred compared to my love for God. That was the ideal I began to look up to. Unfortunately, what followed was not a greater love for God but a greater love for myself. What is worse is that my love for my parents had not merely remained as it is but had diminished. I attributed this change of heart to growing up. I had grown mature enough to view my parents objectively-as human beings. And, as you get older, you grow to know more and more how faulted and imperfect human beings are-even your beloved parents. I began to question their judgements, criticize their ways, and even began to dislike certain parts about them. As I grew to become more and more independent, I grew more and more disobedient. I realize now what a long journey it has been growing so far from my parents. I have forgotten what it is like to lift them up on that high pedestal.
I guess change is inevitable. My view of the world, myself, and my parents have changed a lot since I was a minor and I don't think it is always wrong to change. What is important is that I remember what I am commanded to do by God. I may no longer lift my parents up on a pedestal but I should also keep from being so critical or judgemental. Though I no longer adore them, I can honor my parents by approaching them with a loving and compassionate heart. And though we are all grown adults now, I am convicted to never forget that I came from my mother's womb and it is by the food my father put on the table that I have grown up on.