Family Ties

In his book, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller talks about community. About having people "bugging me, and getting under my skin, because without people I could not grow, I could not grow in God and I could not grow as a human." He also says, "Jesus wants us interacting, eating together, laughing together, praying together." I thought about this today. I have a large family and it continues to expand. I consider my family to be a community. After having spent the past week with various family members I came to some very profound observations. I need other people. I truly require the kind of people who make me angry or hurt, sometimes so much that the word balloon above my head requires censoring. Then the good part of me remembers we are related and share a past. That truth enables me to practice letting go, and open up to nurturing rather than handing the microphone to the wrong voice. I need to love. When I step across my own selfish desires and reach out to another to listen, to help, to lead, I know that I have succeeded once again at pleasing God, maybe even causing him to dance. I need to laugh. Each time I giggle like a two-year-old while playing with my grandchildren or laugh at a funny joke, I know that my heart is smiling a happy-face and that makes me feel just plain good. Lastly, I need to forgive. We all carry baggage slung over our shoulders like stolen loot from a burglary. It weighs heavy. And if I take a moment to consider that the other person could be nursing unhealed wounds, some of which I might even share, then I am better prepared to forgive a hurtful comment or extend a kind word rather than a caustic remark, or allow bitterness to take root. I love my family and I tell God every day how thankful I am. With our entire brood wrapped in the arms of a magnificent God, our past, present and future tied together, ribboned in grace and love, I think I have a greater opportunity to follow in Jesus' footsteps.