The Purpose of Mom and Dad

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12)

Your Mom and Dad are gifts from God. God put Moms and Dads upon the earth so children will experience and come to know unconditional love - the same type of love that God has for us.

On the home page of this site we commented upon the love of God for us and said that "[n]othing we did to Him nor can do to Him diminishes the love God has for us". We went on to say about the passion and death of Jesus:

Despite all the evils and indignities we heaped upon Him, His love for us never wavered. (Proverbs 24:10). Its ardor never cooled. We did not dislodge it. We did not break it. We did not reduce it. We did not strip Him of it. His love for us is absolute. Requited or unrequited, it does not depend on us (Psalm 136).

This is the love of a mom and a dad toward their child. God gave us the gift of moms and dads so we would taste and appreciate this kind of love. Through loving parents, God tries to teach us the love He has for us (See, A Faithful Reflection).

Thus, the loss of a parent leaves a gaping hole in our hearts and we grieve. When this happens, it can be said that a parent has achieved his or her purpose. Rejoice and be glad because your parent has accomplished what God intended that they accomplish: to teach you the magnitude of God's love for us. We dry our tears when we realize that God loves us like the most loving of parents. Moreover, we take consolation in knowing that, though our parents have left us, they return to their parents, who love them. They wait for us until the day that we too join them to continue our lives in eternal and abundant happiness with God, His family and our family in heaven.