This was really hard for me because both my parents abandoned me when I was very young.

I got reunited with my mom at 7 years old, but I never felt connected to her.  I was holding a lot of anger and didn’t trust she would be there for me.

I share all of this because I am sure there are a lot of reasons people have to not have great relationships with their parents.

Yet our relationship with our parents is super important for our mental, relational, and physical health.

I recently read a study that shared a very high chance of disease is directly corelated with negative relationships with parents.

Here are some reasons below why parents are so important along with what loving parenting can provide.

Parents are important because they are our deepest connection, and that has an effect on how we love and let others love us.

If that connection is cut off, then so will the way we give and receive love be cut off. if you want to be free to love the best you can and not to have dysfunction or callousness or an unhealed wound blocking your heart then it's important to repair your relationships with your parents.

 Every parent did the best they could even when they didn't. 

When I heard we are to honor our mother and father, I was like "not mine." But then I heard someone explain that honor doesn't mean to let someone hurt you or abuse you. It means to have a good attitude about them. Don't hate them, love them.   Someone doesn't just decide to be a bad parent, something happened to them that created the fracture.  If you or I hate our parents, we are hating ourselves and others can feel that in us.

Some of the most well-adjusted people I know were supported by their parents.

There is a power in a mother's love, especially when it's intentional and healthy. Fredrick Douglas comes to mind when I think of the power of parental love.

He overcame amazing odds and circumstances as a slave in the south and became one of the major contributors to abolish slavery. In his autobiography, he wrote that his mom would work all day in the fields and walk 12 miles just to lay with him and get up and walk back. Wow! Could you imagine how loved he felt? I'm not sure if this made him keep going when he felt lost and alone and felt the odds were against him, but I have to believe it did. You see, there is no power greater than love, and when we know we are loved, it awakens something in us and that brings us alive and helps us to become who God made us to be.

So, I hope this inspired you to find love for your parents whether they are alive or not, or whether you have a strained or close relationship to them.

If you're a mom, thank you for caring for your children. I hope this reminded you of how important you are and the power of intentional love.

Happy Mother's Day!

Much love,

Bert