This past Saturday afternoon we attended a graduation party for my sister and brother-in-law's grandson. As I observed their family I could not help but be amazed. My sister Kay is now a great-grandmother. Younger than me....there she and her hubby are with their son, granddaughter and great grandson, with only the matriarch missing....Great-great Grandma Jo, age 81, who was so disappointed she could not attend. Family means everything to her and missing a gathering of any kind saddens her heart. Watching the family together I once again realized how blessed my sister is to be graced with not only a tightly knit family, but a deep love that has been created by our Papa God and has blossomed into five generations.
Since then, I have been pondering all that encompasses family.
No one can drive us as crazy as our loved ones, and no one can connect us more than the deep roots that grow, are grafted, or created to morph into what we call family. God created family for a reason from the beginning. The Bible also speaks about marriage being sacred, the birth of babes, the caring for elders. Just look at the fourth commandment....the first one with a promise. "Honor your father and your mother....so your days may be long. " The Bible talks about loving others, even our enemies...Have any family members that you would put in that category? (giggle)
We all have them....or we are them...you know, the family members that make Thanksgiving a story to tell.....the Aunt or Uncle or sibling or distant cousin....the one who shakes up the house, shifts the atmosphere or raises the level of annoyance to fingernails on a chalkboard height.
Today I embrace them all. The family members that build character or maybe bring character to a gathering. Those that shake the house or maybe liven up the house. Yes, even those who cause tension or maybe they give us cause to laugh and release tension. The good, the bad....still not so sure about the ugly. Ugly can be unhealthy.....raise safety issues.
I do give thanks for what makes a family....generations of characters brought together in so many ways to tell a story. Family that makes us who we are and reminds us of Whose we are....created by the Creator.
I give thanks to our Papa God who adopted us into His family, making us children of God. All of us with so many different personalities, so many gifts and yes, flaws. I give thanks to God who understood we would need to know about forgiveness and love and taught us all about it in His living Word. Loving others....loving ourselves and forgiving the same. Wise and perfect in His love, we embrace the family of God, and we embrace our own families. Generations of family trees created, grafted, and morphed together to be connected in love, ours and His. I am counting it all joy!
I am linking up today with Ann over at A Holy Experience
1 comment:
I think of the scripture that says, "He set's the lonely in families." Family is so important to me, and it has taken most of my adult life, but we FINALLY have this awesome family that we have grown! Our three children, their spouses, the grandchildren... I came from a small family with not a lot of connection to the larger family. It is so wonderful to have family.
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