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Let’s celebrate our parent’s special love.

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Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

"Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise--"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

(NIV Ephesians 6:1-3)

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This Sunday is Parent's Day. We should think about all that our parents have done for us and thank them every day. But, especially, today is a very special day to thank and love them.

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Today we celebrate Parent's Day but originally it began as Mother's Day. I would like to start our day giving thanks to God for allowing us to be blessed with parents who love us.

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Mother's Day began in West Virginia, America. There was a Sunday school teacher named Jarvis who lived in a small village named Welster, West Virginia. She taught children for 25 years and had a very good influence on them.

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When Jarvis passed away, the people who knew her wanted to make a special day to celebrate her loving heart for others especially children.

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On that special day, Anna Jarvis, the teacher’s daughter, was invited to come tell everyone about her mother.

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Anna tells them how when she was a child, her mother had taught her in Anna told them how when she was a child her mother had taught her in Sunday school.

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”One day my mom told us about the love of the parents. Mom taught us about the Fifth commandment, ‘Obey your parents.’ And she gave us one assignment. “

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She said, “Children, the Bible tells us to ‘obey your parents.’ This is a commandment from God. I hope you will think on how you can show your thankful heart for your mother’s great love and sacrifice.”

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” Today I’ll give out carnations to show my thankfulness to all of the mothers here.” Anna pinned a carnation onto each mother there one by one.

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The people who attended that event were deeply touched so they decided to make a special day to gather together once every year for giving thanks for the mother's love of their children.By the way, this small celebration, that began in that church, gradually began to spread to all of the other neighborhood churches.

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This caused even more influence as it spread throughout the entire U.S. This good custom came to Korea by American missionaries. At first it was celebrated on May 8th as Mother’s Day. Now they still celebrate it on May 8th but as Parent's Day.

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Also, the Korean churches celebrate Parent’s Day every 2^nd Sunday of May. Which is the same day as Mother's Day in America. Traditionally in America, the children who’s mothers were still alive would wear a red carnation but the children who's mothers had already died would wear a white carnation and on that day they would think about the special love of their mothers like Anna had done.

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In the Bible, Ephesians 6:1 – 3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise--"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

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God teaches us that in order to live a long healthy life we must obey our parents.

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Also, the Bible shows us there are many people who have done great works through their obedience to their parents.

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Joseph was obedient to his father but he was sold as a slave to Egypt. At first it seemed like everything had gone wrong, but God promoted him from a slave to Prime Minister of Egypt.

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We know about David. He obeyed his father and went to the battle field for his brothers; there David killed Goliath and then become King of Israel.

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Ruth, treated her mother-in-law very well. Because of this matter she got married to Boaz who was the most faithful man in Jerusalem. Then she received the glorious blessing of having her name included in the genealogy of Jesus.

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Children, especially today you should remember the special love your parents have for you. Try to return it, even just a little bit. Like Anna, who thought very deeply about her mother’s message. Do something nice today to show your parents how much they mean to you.