I just made a little pot of Door County Maple Coffee and now it is time to write. I chose a picture today from my Dad's home. The water is so still that it reflects the trees that are on shore. It has a lot to do with our message today.
I want to devote today to the subject of families. Every family is different. Some are large and some are small. Some have all the typical members and some have members that are missing. Some families have grandparents living with them, aunts have taken the place of missing mothers. Uncles substitute as dads. But no matter what the family dynamics are the one thing that all families are made for, need plenty of, and can always use more of, is love.
Families are where you run to when the chips are down. Families are where you celebrate births. Families are where you share memories and make new ones. Families gather around the sick and down trodden and help each other. Families share the good and the bad. Families laugh and cry together. Families love to eat together.
Maybe you are a family of only two and you have close friends that are just like family. Despite not being blood relatives these people are what you have as your closest companions. They are like family to you and you share the same things as blood relative families do.
Love can be a noun and a verb. Today we described the noun with action phrases. Love in motion is what I see in most every family. The parents that work to pay the bills. The meals that are made. Hours rocking a small baby who has their days and nights mixed up. Watching soccer games in the rain, when a hot bath sounds better. Listening to the stories of the elderly, even though you heard them a thousand times before. Forgiving without being asked to forgive. Families with love in action sacrifice for others. Grandparents who babysit or raise children left to them are love in action. Brothers and sisters who help teach the younger children, so as to give the parents a break, love in action again!
Families are best at love when their First Love is God. A Pharisaic lawyer once asked our Lord, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" Matthew 22:36-40
So if the family in your circle is low on the love gauge it might be that the First Love is missing or is not at the head of the family. Families often struggle even though they are doing their best to make it as a family, when God is not the love of their lives.
When children are younger and they catch a cold, it usually spreads like wild fire through the family. If just one family member can be on fire for the Lord it might just be enough to spread through the others. Love in the family starts with you. You love as much as you choose to. Does your family reflect the love of God?
Choose more,
Marty
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