The Blessing Family Is

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”

~Desmond Tutu.

Gratitude is a theme that runs through my mind just presently. Of the awed series’ of blessings we get to gorge upon in this life, how wonderful it is that we have family—familial family, friends, those even of like mind?

We can be rhetorically amazed at the simplicity and power of ‘family love.’

Not only are we blessed these ways, they are too. We say, “Aw, shucks...” and modestly shrug off the truth—that we’re loved and are lovable. Fortunately for us, this truth clings and we cannot escape the fact that our families love us. This is great safety.

And if we ever felt unloved or unlovable I know a family that would accept us—it’s the Christian family—the church. And if one body of believers ever hurt us, or two, or three, we could as easily have the faith that there are some out there—more genuine in their love—that will love us.

We’re all gorgeous when we seek to love!—that is to simply live for others. We do this for them; they do it for us. It’s the gift of love.

Classically the function of familial love answers the above directly. We reap generally according to what we sow. We love and are therefore loved. God loves us so we love ourselves; we then love others freely, unencumbered.

But the family’s love is not conditional always to sowing and reaping is it? We can’t help but love our families.

Taking a special moment today to bless a family member, whoever they are, and however you choose to do it, is the sprinkling of a God-dusted love beyond the world over them and us.

Both will know blessing sourced far beyond this world.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.