Honor My Parents?

In todays world I see so often that kids, especially teenagers are disrespectful towards their parents. I see it out of kids of all ages. My two year old nephew often disrespects his mom by telling her no (a typical toddler word). Elementary kids stomp their feet and throw temper tantrums out of disobedience. Teenagers yell and scream at their parents. I can't imagine telling my parents to shut up, but I've seen it happen with other kids all the time. This doesn't go to say that I am a perfect child, I'm far from it. But over the past couple of months God has really been working with me to give repsect to my parents.
I started this reading plan where I will be reading through the Bible in 90 days, and today I was reading in the book of Exodus. In chapter 20 it refers to the ten commandments, listing them all out. As many of us know, the fifth commandment is to honor your father and your mother, but God adds a promise on with that commandment. God promised this, "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."  I continued to read into chapter 21. I came to a section entitled in my Bible as Personal Injuries. In this section it lists punishments that must be suffered in the event that someone kills or injures another person. In verse 17, it says "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." Wow! When I read that I wondered, what does it mean to curse someone? According to the dictionary to curse someone means to express a wish that misfortune would fall upon someone. Is that honoring your parents? NO! I was amazed at how serious this issue was treated in the Old Testament.
 I found it very interesting that this particular example was put under person injuries. I know you have heard the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me." The truth is, words can be one of the most painful things int he world. Being cursed at, or yelled at, or belittled hurts worst than many physical pains. The Bible even talks about the power of the tongue Our words have the capability to make a huge impact and it can either be a positive or a negative impact. That, I think, is why this example was put under personal injuries, because words can emotionally injure a person.
This is not a light subject. Honoring our parents is a serious thing. I can gurantee you that you will see a change in your life by honoring your parents. I am still in the process of learning how to fully respect my parents, it's a process that takes time, but it's worth it. The best part is, you don't have to do it alone. God is here to help you! He wants to see you succeed in this, he wants to see that relationship with your mom or dad or maybe even both be mended together. Your Heavenly Father loves you and wants things between you and your earthly parents to be right.