"I Was Only Joking..."

Ephesians 6:23 "Honour thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it might be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."

So often I hear children of varying ages speak disrespectfully to their parents. Some parents attempt to correct their children, the child responds with "I was joking", and the parents accept this explanation. Other parents will just excuse their children, saying "Oh, that's just how we relate; I know they don't mean to be disrespectful."

I wonder if we are doing our children a disservice in teaching them it's really ok to be disrespectful if they're only playing. This stood out to me so clearly that I asked God, "What is it I'm doing?"

Uh Oh ...I do seem to remember times when I say something disrespectful to my husband and yeah, I'm only joking...

Forgive us, Lord!

kdr