Family...

I was going thru some old photos as I was preparing a slide show for Sue's wedding. Little did I expect to be sucked into memory lane, as thoughts and events of old suddenly came flashing into my mind. I look at the pics, and I've got to say that I was a very blessed kid. I mean, I used to tell people that I had a unhappy childhood, but these photos proved otherwise. But something happened along the teen years.. the joy died, and resentment and unforgiveness crept in...

Mike and the Mechanics' "The Living Years" teaches us that we ought not to take people around us for granted. And, the song also stressed the importance of finding out that fact during the "living years". When I look at the stained and faded photos, my heart is crunched as I suddenly desire so much just as to be able to go back into time and relive those moments, and also to undo the wrongs and to make things right. For some reason, hurtful memories tend to always resonate louder in our minds, and are more memorable than happy ones. I remember the hurtful words that I've spoken to my parents, and how I was disobedient to them. If I knew what I know now then, I would have smack myself in the face and told myself to shut up. But life goes on. Words that have been spoken can never be retracted, like fresh water that runs into the sea.

What is family then? Why strive for its survival? And why is it that so many of them fail?

I learned that family is more than just time spent together. It's more than birthdays, graduations, new year's, and christmases spent together. I learn that family goes beyond vacations at the seaside, and the welcoming of the new TV set. Family is from God. And only God can keep the family together because it is His love is the source of all that's good, and the only thing that's worth living for.

In the past 10 years of my life, I have seen with my own eyes how families that are close to me break down. They stopped functioning, and altogether dissolved into something society can't even define. How did it happen? I don't really know. I know some of it could have started from a few hurtful words, while others because of silence altogeher. Today's society tries to make us accept such occurences and something "normal". They view as though not all families are meant to last, and if ours can, we are just plain lucky. Therefore, the breaking down of the family institution has managed to earn its "rightful" place in our modern day society...

The first family that ever existed was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. With them and thru them existed a love that words cannot describe. In that love was perfect unity and harmony, and it overcomed every single other element that came against it.
I now see why God created families. And it is thru the institution of the family that we can know more about God's love, how it is so sacrificing, enduring and filled with compassion. I thank God for my family, because I know that even when the world rejects me, I have a family that will be there for me. And I claim the promises in Acts 16:31... knowing one day the love in my family will be made complete in Jesus Himself.

Do I have a perfect family? Not really... but when I look at the cross, I see hope for one. And knowing that God loves my family so much gives me more the reason to fight for mine.

Thank you Lord...