Wisely Respected

For a while now I have been doing a lot of reflecting on my upbringing and the people that played such a major part in my rearing from my grandparents that have all gone on, to my parents who still provide all of us in the family so much wisdom about life, relationships, and spiritual growth daily. If they notice something airy with any of us they will surely address it. We even have adopted the concept that we are a village and it takes a village to raise kids, it takes a village to help cheer on a solid marriage, it even takes a village to help after a divorce to help repair. Our Matriarch and Patriarch, if you will, are the wisdom extraordinaires in our village and we respect them and utilize them to the fullest. If things get to crazy my parents have been known to call whoever has lost their mind to the table, with our immediate family (grownups only) so we can all talk it out and hopefully talk some sense into the person that has somehow strayed. Even my husband has jumped right in, sometimes I have to say HEY DONT TELL THEM THAT because he is so comfortable with our dynamics he will tell it all because he knows he is on level ground and its safe. My family doesn't take sides outside of RIGHT and WRONG. This means if I'm wrong I get called out for that and have to give account for it. Even in child rearing my sister and I both do a lot of yielding to family thoughts and suggestions. I always thought for the most part this was the norm in all families. I have always respected my elders and was required to have a certain type of etiquette period when it came to dealing with people. I think society has went very wrong in dropping some of the traditions those that came before us insisted on. In the effort to make life better for our children and ourselves the result is a bunch of rude, self entitled, and non ethical people that have no respect for elders, let alone wisdom. But in the world today so many people don't want wisdom, they don't want anything that goes against what makes them FEEL good and if you know like I know wisdom doesn't always feel like a happy time. So many parents have decided saying yes ma'am and no ma'am is a slave mentality, or to ask a child to do anything for you such as get a glass of water is just down right wrong. Heaven forbid you do like my parents did and do random room checks and phone checks because then you are invading their privacy. By the way I did ALL of those things to my kids with no shame. But then we wonder why so many of our younger generation is so confused, and crazy...its because society decided to reject wisdom, and parents have decided to make their children their equals and friends instead of raising productive sensible adults. Now don't get me wrong we have all had our share of wayward moments. That is to be expected with growth but to have a good foundation has helped me even in my lowest points in life. I am so glad I was not brought up in a time where respect was optional, or where parents treated me like a little grown up. I am even happier that I people around me that gave wise sound advise. Lastly, I'm grateful to still have a direct line to that wisdom. Maybe the world as a whole should re-think this new age way because it doesn't seem to be benefitting our children nor society. Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.