The Gift Of Family

3 Sep

“Your parents miss you and wish you’d call.  Later you’ll miss them and wish you could.”
~ Paul Graham

Family.  That is a pretty loaded word.  Family can evoke feelings of comfort, security, and joy.  Family can also evoke feelings of abandonment, anger, and distress.  When some people invite others into their families, it is a good thing.  Criminal organizations also invite people into their families and the invited need to commit a crime to belong.

Our families are so mixed up because we live in a world thoroughly tainted by sin.  However, we cannot allow sin to destroy our families whether they be biological, communal, parish, or the greater family of the Body of Christ.  God is the ultimate head of our family and we need to keep on the proper path so that we can celebrate as a family one day in heaven.

Our parent (God) misses us and wishes we would call.  The way we call God is through prayer.  Many people never take time to pray.  They may make time when they are ill or when one of their loved ones is ill.  They may pray when they are preparing for a major shift in life.  Those prayers are all prayers of petition/desperation.  However, prayer is supposed to be more than that.  Prayer, done correctly, is a constant communication between God and us.

Prayer means talking with God, thanking God, laughing with God, noticing God’s presence, and praising God.  It is much more than simply begging God, though there is a place for that in one’s life as long as the other components of prayer are there as well.

God misses us and wishes we would call.  If we do not do so, we will cut ourselves off from Him and forget all that we have been taught.  We will forget how to find Him in our daily lives.  We will get to the point where we wish we could call but that desire would not be deep enough to get through the distraction of life and we might forget all about God.

Let each and every one of us, as members of God’s family, hold firm in the faith today.  And, while we are at it, let’s all give God a call.

FAITH ACTION:  Pray for healing in families that might be fractured.