A Family Story - Unchosen

Greetings Dear Reader,

“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.”  - Oscar Wilde

We do not get to choose many aspects of our natural family.  Parents, aunts, uncles, and the like are part of the package when we are born.  Even our siblings are not our choice.  This is the family that we are born into.

We find as we grow that some are good to us and others are not.  We draw close to some and distance ourselves from others.  We judge and condemn.  We do not always forgive.  Our obligation is to love and forgive. 

We cannot control what others in our family do and how it impacts us.  We can control our response to it.  We can also control our expectations of others.  Most of the offenses we take up against our family is the result of them not living up to our expectations.  We decide how others should act or be and then judge them when they do not live up to those decisions.  This is preventable if we simply stop placing expectations on others. 

Often we cause strife because we are trying to get our own needs met.  The way family works is that we need to meet each other’s needs.  We must all work mutually to care for each other.  When we focus on our own needs above others we create strife, division, and even wars.

As a Christ follower I must love my family.  That does not mean that I do everything they wish or allow abuses.  It does mean that my interactions with them are loving and kind.  It does not mean that I accept their bad behavior.  It does mean that I keep the door open when they do good or show that they understand their errors. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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