God's Family

Family. The word alone can bring tears of happiness, shouts of joy or rumblings of anger. Blood is thicker than water. Really? Then why at times does the blood that connects us seem a little too watery?
There are many reasons for strife in our families. Someone says or does something meaning no harm but feelings get hurt anyway. Someone is forgotten accidently from the family reunion of cousins too numerous to count. A promised item from a recently deceased loved one is given to another. And so on...
Then there are the families who get along beautifully. Take family vacations together. Take sewing classes together. Bake grandma's secret cookie recipe together. They are perfect. Or at least appear to be.
Some families really are close. Not perfect and they'll be the first to admit it, but close all the same. Laughing and loving and arguing. But loving first and foremost.
In reality, all families have some form of strife. It's called sin. Strife just sounds nicer. Who talks about sin anymore, besides your pastor? Whether we talk about it or not, call it what it is or not, it is still there. And so is forgiveness if we let it be.
Forgiving isn't so easy. It means we have to let go of being right and admit maybe we were in the wrong too. It means we stop dwelling on our feelings and try to understand someone else's. Not easy. Yet extremely doable when we hand over our upset to God.
His family is perfect. And so is His love for us. Unconditional love. And as for understanding, who "gets us" better than God? He made us and we are His children. He is our Father. The perfect parent. Wow. So our family is made perfect in Him? Which means we are made perfect in Him?
Now there's a family tree I'd like to climb and whose shade I'd like to rest in for awhile.