Family

Our family…I know sometimes we wish we had a choice in the matter but we don’t.  We can’t pick and choose our family.  We get who we get and we have to be satisfied with that.

I think when we’re young, especially when we’re teenagers, we constantly wish for new parents.  And why is that? It’s the same answer everywhere you go.  Because they won’t let us do what we want to do.  Or, and this is a big one, “they don’t understand us.”

We think they’ve never been kids before so they can’t possibly know what we’re going through.  Or even when they try and talk to us we think they don’t know the first thing about being a kid.  We also have siblings that constantly get on our nerves.  There’s just no end to it, and we wish we had a new family or better still, for some, no family.

As we age we realize that family’s the first place we’re shown unconditional love.  It’s the first place we’re shown how to love.  We’re taught to show respect and give respect.  We’re also taught sharing and manors, and hopefully a work ethic through chores.

We learn that this was our parents instilling good morals into us and preparing us to go out into the world.  And regardless of how they view you as a parent we must train up a child in the way he or she should go.

We also learn that a loving family is a gift from God.  That even our crazy uncle or the cousin who’s on drugs, is all a part of God’s plan for the family.  And that we should do whatever we can to love and nurture the one we have.

We should be there for each other whether one of them is on drugs or not.  We should show love and kindness and remind them that God loves them too.  At the end of the day God put you in that family.

Right now the family’s under attack.  It’s under attack by an enemy that will do anything to disrupt God’s order.  We can’t and shouldn’t allow the enemy to have his way.  That is not the will of God.

We have to see our family in a different light.  The way we treat each other in our family reflects in the way we operate in the world.  Others will see it and recognize that you’re a part of something that’s admirable…and that’s family.

Whether we like it or not we’re stuck with the one we have.  Good or bad, different or indifferent.  We can make the most of it and even help to make it better…because at the end of the day we’re all that we have.

1 Corinthians 13:7  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

When many people think of marriage today, they don’t.  They don’t take it seriously and they don’t give it a second thought.

Because when they do take that step, half the time they’ve already told themselves that if it don’t work out they’ll get a divorce.  Nine times out of ten they’ve already said that to someone else as well.

Marriage should not be taken lightly.  It is and should be viewed as a covenant between two people who has chosen to become one.  One heart and one flesh with one goal.  Not as a contract, which is what divorce is all about.  You go into it with the mind set, if it don’t work out I’ll just get out.

A covenant is a binding agreement.  Something that you vow to honor forever and a day and when you go into your marriage thinking of it that way, your marriage will be the better for it.

Marriage should be viewed like a beautiful flower that blooms each spring.  And like green blades of grass growing out of the ground.  In order for flowers to bloom and grow and in order for grass to be healthy and green, they have to be nurtured and cared for.

if your flowers or your grass is not watered and fertilized, they will wither and die.  A marriage is the same way.  Think about it…you have to nurture and take care of it or it will wither and die as well.

Marriage is give and take and we learn that as we mature.  It’s not only about us, it’s about us two.  Sometimes you make sacrifices and sometimes you don’t but if you look to God and his holy word it will be alright and that little sacrifice you made is not a big deal.

As we age our appearances change and so does our health, and if your marriage is rooted and grounded in the word you won’t have to worry about your spouse leaving because of that change or because it got a little hard.

One thing is constant and will always happen and that’s age and change.  As God fearing people we know that and accept it with pride and joy.  Because to age is a Blessing from God.

None of us are experts at marriage.  We take what we have and work with it.  And if we follow God’s word and will for our lives, we’ll be the better for it.  We’ll have love, peace and happiness and divorce will be the last thing on our minds.

Nurture your marriage by doing what you have to do to have a healthy, happy marriage.  Not looking at what someone else is doing but looking at what God would have you to do and divorce will be the last thing on your mind.

Nurture it and it will Grow!