I have been having some new, strange and wonderful thoughts as I enter into this season of thanksgiving and also this new era of Fellowship Baptist Church. I remember when I was 18; young and alive and ready to make my own way. I always had a good home life but for some reason I was ready to get out from under the family and do my own thing. I have always been pretty independent or aragant depending on how you look at it or how old you are. So I left the family never to return but for short visits. Here is my new thought. Through my experiences with God and Church and the meditation is God's Word, I find that God has made us to function together. Every institution of God (Family, Government, and Church) has always been based on the fact that people are meant to be together. I look at families in the Bible and I see sons that stay home and help to raise and support the family. I look in other countries and the idea is that home is with the family. You can go to Egypt today and see 3 and 4 generations living under the same roof. Even if the children go off to school and what not, they always come home and help the family once more.
So, what's the conclusion to the very obvious thoughts? Simply that maybe, we have messed up one of the greatest strengths that God has given us. Unity in the family. A very natural togetherness that should carry us through the hard times and never leave us alone. But, in our araogence we have left our families and become individuals that are supposed to weather all the storms of life on our own, and in the process have made ourselves shipwrecked in the sea of life; hoping that someone will come along and save us from our individualness and give us a since of belonging. Why did we ever leave? Why are we pushing our kids out to do it all on their own? Why must we reinvent the wheel with every generation instead of using the wisdom of our fathers.
I look at our Church and I see that we have become a life boat for people that have become shipwrecked and are desiring to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. But isn't the Church just a picture of what the family is supposed to be? No wonder we have to start all over with the Gospel in every generation. The family unit is broken down with every son that is born because he is a freeloader if he stays home. Now, I'm not one for laziness (that's a whole different blog) but I do beleive the family should be tighter, closer, sharing, and caring for one another. That we might grow farther than our ancesters and smarter because we were spared from the stupidity of our youth, and protected by the ones that know better. But we are content to throw our young into the deepend and yell, "Sink or Swim!" with no instruction or guidence. Sometimes they swim and sometimes they sink. Is that acceptable. I don't know. Maybe I had to much turkey yesterday and it is clouding my vision, or maybe I'm just getting older and can see clearer in spite of the dimming of my eyes.
Love your family this holiday season. Draw close to them. Love them. Teach them. Guide them. There is always a storm on the horizon, but there is safty amidst family and friends.
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