I think it is funny, like ha ha laughable, that from the outsider persepctive on a family how it can seem like "man they really have it together". And of course the following thought process gives us this feeling like my family is really messed up. There was a TV show called "All in the Family" and those writers splendidly portrayed the family of its chaotic qualities.
I often refer to my close friends as brothers and sisters, and I really like the idea of having a large family...that there is something kindred and unifying between us that makes us family. Christ would be the dominant factor, but there is so much built into these relationships. We have our commonalities and ways we can relate to each other, and by all means we have differing opinions.
So this illusion there are families that don't have as many problems and sit peacefully in the family room every evening to talk about how wonderful there day was is ridiculous. And of course mother knits while father reads the paper and the children piece together the latest Thomas Kinkade puzzle. aaaaa, no.
I think that in the family structure God has a beautiful and often hilarious way of using the ways we hate each other's guts at times and the disagreements to make the statement "can't live with 'em and you can't without 'em" so true. I love my family, and I love my brothers and sisters. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but sometimes when need to remember that reuniting after that absence often leads back to the reality of the kids fighting because the other is hiding pieces of the puzzle to put the last piece in and mom and dad going crazy from the bickering and on and on and on.
And there you have it. Family is really designed to remind us of how depraved (or deprived) we are and our need for a savior. Hey check it out, I am already developing the ability, that all pastors have, to turning everything into a message about the gospel!
"God bless us, everyone."
1 comment:
Good insight, Joel. First of all a comment about your header. We are a reflection of our past. I have finished the book The Dark Side of Leadership and our past dictates who we are as adults often driving us to be successful as we deal with the woundedness of our childhood years.
Then your comments about family. At times your family members drive you crazy and yet are the very ones whom you love enough to die for, and the same people are there for you in the difficult times.
Yesterday a read a book on motherhood by the wife of John Elridge, Wild at Heart author. We make lots of mistakes in our parenting, yet once a mother, always a mother. When our children struggle, are hurt, have difficult decisions to make, the mother struggles right along with her child, even when the child is an adult.
Years ago Joyce Landorf wrote a book about irregular people. Those difficult people, often family members, who just are difficult to get along with. Recently I heard a radio speaker call them sandpaper people. They rub you the wrong way. But what happens when wood is rubbed and rubbed with sandpaper? A glossy surface is formed enough to reflect who we are. God always has some sandpaper people in my life. I am learning a lot about myself as I allow God to show me my shortcomings as I react to the sandpaper people. The hard part is having to associate with the sandpaper people on an almost daily basis. God must really want to polish my character.
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