Family

We have just returned from a family trip in Florida where 15 of us were all camped out under one roof for a week. The ages ranged from two, two year olds to grandparents (that is us, ha). Nine adults and six grandchildren made for one big zoo.   Family dynamics continue to change, as we all know, when kids get married and even more so when our children have their own children.  For each family has their own way of doing things, and when thrown all together there has to be a bunch of give and take. I love watching each family as they grow into their own style and routine and I also love seeing their varied gifts in action.  For each one, no matter the age has a bent, a personality, and something to contribute. And throughout the week I saw those gifts exemplified and so appreciated the many blessings before me.  

The times when all of us are together are so few and I cherish the blessings of being together no matter where we all land. On one night, we played bingo on an outside porch. Not the traditional bingo but beach bingo. My youngest daughter Molly had made laminated bingo cards with beach related pictures on them so that the kids could play as well. Talking about personalities coming out.  There were those who were competitive, those who were distracted, those who were not quick to find the pictures, those who were great at being the callers, those who just wanted the prize, and there was one, who was taking the whole in and wishing it would never end.  And it made for the most fun night of all.  

When we figure out as a family how to incorporate the many diverse gifts that are within us, that makes for the best memories. I watched as my Catherine (age 5) waited expectantly in every game to get to go to the prize box....and the calls just didn’t fall her way.   We were on our last game and bless her little heart, she was filled with anxious hope but someone called bingo before she got her last two spaces covered, and she just sank....and then we said lets go on and see who gets second and so on.  When she finally got bingo at fourth place and got to scream out bingo, she held her little arms high, made fists and was the happiest five year old you had ever seen.  

She didn’t have to be first, she just wanted her chance to go to the prize box.  Well, that is the way it goes with family.  You don’t have to be the first place winner, as long as you get to participate in the prize. We all have gifts to contribute to the prize box, and opportunities to be the gracious recipients of prizes, God prizes.  But the real winners are the ones who take a play from God’s game board and learn to love one another in spite of differences of opinion and attitude. Hard to do sometimes, but even if you come in fourth place, you still can hold you arms high in victory and know you had played the game and won after all.    

Years ago, I bought a plaque that I have hanging in the wall of my family room.  It is a poem titled  “We are Family" and it is such a reminder that for each family member, God has purposed to advance our need for his input and our dependance on Him.  Family is a place where we spout off, spring into attitude, say things we might not ever say to others, and act in ways that are totally contrary to what the rest of the world sees us to be.  In spite of it all, God is using every event to make us think a little harder, grow a little deeper, and learn how to blend maturity into ideas that are contrary to our own experiences or opinions. 

Blessed are we who have families to count on for support, for training, for love, for understanding, for wisdom, for reflection, for help, for friendship and for fun times.  The older that I get, the more I am able to understand the significance of diversity and how the annoyances and appeasements play such an important role in God’s goal to grow us up, and help us reach for a perspective that is above our daily grasp.  This poem is a short read but one that casts great truth.  

We are Family

by Anita Robertson

"We are a family born in the mind of God eons before our physical existence became a reality. He carefully planned every detail of our being -- the color of our eyes and hair, a dimple here, a freckle there -- making us unique individuals who would fit perfectly into His plan for our family.

He did not create our diverse personalities to push us into conflict, but to give balance to our lives by drawing from each other's strengths as well as complementing each other's weaknesses.

Knowing we would need each other to accomplish His special purpose for our lives, He wove certain traits and characteristics into each of us to benefit the entire family.

As we place our complete trust in the Lord, He helps us grow, nurture, share and love." (c) 1983 - Anita Robertson   

Dear Lord, I thank you for the precious members you have given us to be in our family.  And I thank you too for the generations that have gone before us and have channeled a way for us through faith and commitment to you.  Help me to appreciate the differences that we have, and to honor and respect ways that differ from my own.  Help me to be a prize winning player in your game of life and love unconditionally with understanding and patience.  

For I know you are not through with me yet and with every circumstance you are helping me grow and teaching me lessons of maturity.  Thank you God for never stopping to build me into the person that you know is bubbling somewhere inside of me.  Help me too to remember that you are building others the same way using many of the same opportunities.  Amen                 

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!