Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Family bonds tend to be far stronger than the bonds we have with other people. In all but the most dysfunctional families, family members stick together and stand up for one another. Children look out for their parents, and parents guard the interests of their children. In married relationships, husbands and wives share secrets between themselves that no one else on earth is privy to. Brothers and sisters put up with more from their siblings than they do from outsiders. Family members also tend to be willing to do things for their families that they would not do for even their closest friends.
The month of October seemed to be like I was making up for lost time connecting with family members. It wasn’t this big plan, it just kind of happened that I would go to Texas for an event with one family then return home and have another side of the family visiting in town… I couldn’t help but realize how much I missed hanging out and being with people I don’t see often. It’s so interesting to observe how different we are from the families we are born into, yet we manage to fit in and morph into whichever side we are with at the time.
We might expect that the earthly family of Jesus would have a place in His heart far above the place He grants any of His other followers. Yet the New Testament shows us that this is not the case. In fact, Jesus does not define His family as those closest to Him by blood. Instead, only those who do the will of God can be called His true family (Mark 3:31–35).
I think about the next couple of months and all of the family events and am so grateful that I get to celebrate with so many different people.
Being a family is much more important than just having one. In other words, the question isn’t so much who our family is. Rather, who am I a family too? Some of us may or may not have a family that we are a part of, but we can be that kind of family to someone else.