As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15 NKJV)
I spent this past weekend at my mom’s mother’s family reunion at a state park near St. Louis, Missouri. My grandmother was the second of six children born to a poor farm family in East-Central Illinois in the very early 1900s. Although those original six siblings ended up in Colorado, Nebraska, and Illinois, their children – my mother’s generation – were still closely connected to each other. Fast forward many decades, and those cousins still enjoy spending time together.
The first of the recent reunions was held in Colorado in 2000. Since then some of the oldest generation have passed on, many of my generation have married and had families, and now those children are beginning to launch into adulthood. I have been very blessed to meet extended relatives and – to a person – have been impressed with how kind, lovely, and down-to-earth they have been. Admittedly, I do not know all my cousins or their children, but as I look at the grand sweep of the family, it seems that the seeds of kindness, compassion, and familial ties planted by “James” and “Rhonda” before 1920 continue to bear fruit.
Last Friday night after supper we sat outside in a circle and took turns telling about our families, activities, and so forth. We listened, asked questions, grieved together and rejoiced together. One of my cousins was hospitalized for a long time after an inexplicable two-month coma. Twelve years later, she has recovered, is enjoying young grandchildren, and accompanied her 89-year-old mother to the reunion. Another talked about the miraculous protection of God upon their property when a wildfire came within fifteen feet of their machine shed – and a 50 gallon tank of flammable gas. As a gathered group, we talked about jobs, kids, community service, and activities with our churches. The common threads of faith, hard work, service, and family were strong.
Today I invite you to celebrate and thank God for the good things about your family, and join me in praying that God will strengthen all families.
Father God,
Today we thank you for placing us in families. We are grateful for parents and grandparents who have done their best to raise up children in the way they should go, and have created networks of relationships that endure. We thank you for families that stick together, grieve together, and rejoice together. We pray you will continue to strengthen families, giving them resilience, healing, and every resource they need to thrive. We also lift up those who are hurting – those in broken or strained family relationships, and those who have lost all family connections. We pray the people of your Church would come alongside them, and that the Body of Christ will meet those needs for community and connectedness. We pray that you will strengthen marriages, parents-child relationships, and bonds among extended family members. May all family ties be rooted in love, grace, and mutual honor. And Lord, we pray especially for the next generation. Give our children a deep hunger to walk closely with you, so they too may grow up to raise a new generation of faithful Christ-followers. In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.
God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. (Psalm 68:6 NLT)
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:15 NIV)