■ I have to say that India has impacted our family greatly, even though we are still adjusting to the country and changing.
If we were to point to one aspect it would be the following.
The Indian extended family helped us rediscover one of the profound teachings of the Bible: “Honor your father and your mother”.
The Indian family system is probably what we have believed all along, yet not practiced in depth. We read over and over about God’s command to respect and honor our parents and the blessing that comes with this. Yet, in Christian America, very rarely is this practiced. I believe it is because we, as a culture, have failed to apply and follow this teaching, so we shy away from it.
To honor our parents goes against our American culture, which is in constant pursuit of “happiness” and “freedom from entanglements”. Therefore we are clueless when it comes to understanding how living as an extended or involved family can be a great blessing to us. India has taught us to respect, to seek advice from, to love and to care for our family.
How we speak about our own parents and grandparents to our daughter has caused her to have a respect for them, even though they are thousands of miles away. Three years ago we chose to move back to America to live with and care for my father-in-law until he died.
This was a great risk to our business, yet we know the two things that made us do it; one, the examples set by so many Indian friends who had or would do the same thing for their parents; and two, living in India opened our eyes to a profound truth revealed in our scriptures.
Joanna Budelman
FULL ARTICLE HERE
