Millstone Encouragement

Over the past week we have looked at some basics for building stronger marriages. Thinking about this relationship as one that must be nourished and worked every day. But there is another set of relationships that for many reasons seem to take precedence over the marital one, the rest of the family. The relationships with our parents, with our children, with grandparents, siblings, neices, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws and out-laws. There are many important relationships that are pulling at our time, our energy, our heart. It's our family, our blood kinfolk and these relationships need nurturing, too. But how to prioritize them is difficult.

My wife and I are from a small town in Central Indiana. Almost all of my family still lives in and around there. Weekly family gatherings were common for both of us. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays it seemed there was always something we could do with family. Birthday parties, open houses, anniversaries, holidays it seemed that you couldn't turn around without being invited to something else for the extended family. It was wonderful. We loved it. It was our life. We knew what was happening. We knew our cousins intimately. We shared life. There was so much good that happened in those gatherings. Then we moved away.

Not far away, but away. It was just far enough that multiple weekend gatherings were impossible to attend, plus the nature of my work, ministry, would hamper our weekend activities anyway. So we found ourselves on an island in a sense. Our family seemed so small and alone. And we discovered something, we needed each other more than we thought and we grew closer together. We saw our immediate family more completely than ever before and while grew even more respectful and grateful for our extended family that we missed so much, our priority became our immediate family.

The first few verses of Matthew 18 tells a story of the Kingdom of God and how children and the childlike are important parts of it. How it is critical that we treat children as such, unless of course you'd rather have a millstone hung around your neck and tossed into the sea. Our focus has to be on our children and our immediate family, training and teaching them appropriately, making sure that they have every opportunity to succeed, to feel a part, to build self-esteem, to know they are special in God's sight and kingdom. The focus isn't just on them, it is on nurturing them in faith, in right living, in love with others and especially with God.

It's so important to God that we help our children grow in faith. And it has become imporant to me too. Not only because of what I like to call "millstone encouragement," but for the persons of faith my children have and will become. I've discovered their importance and they became a priority for my wife and I and we are willing to do whatever it takes to help them.

We need to focus on our families' need and our families' faith and bring the kingdom home.

Peace ><>
PC