God's Family

A couple of weekends ago we went down to see our families. Interesting creatures families. Whether you are close or not, functional or not, nasty or not, sitting back to look in from the outside can be very educational.
One can begin to see why they enjoy the company of one sibling over another. Why a favorite aunt is indeed a favorite aunt. Why there is humble gratitude that there are only plastic forks on the table and not real "weaponry" as your least admired and most annoying relative sits next to you. Unvited.
Sometimes the realization hits that one is moving into the role of their parents as their parents move into the roll of our grandparents. It can be an ugly thing when this reality hits or it can be full of warm blessings.
We tend to reflect upon our own family. Are we doing a good job of parenting our children? Are we as supportive of a spouse as we could be? And then the really important questions begin to occur. Is the bathroom floor as clean as it should be?
Seriously, the important questions that really do come to mind may be more like, "Are we instilling good values in our children?" Or, most importantly, "Do they have that personal relationship with God that we hope they have?" Have we talked about God, religion, prayer enough with our children?
Daunting as it can be and as hard as it may be, we need to turn this over to God. Yeah, dump it all right back into His lap. Especially the worry. It amazes me how His peace can settle on and calm my heart. It also blows me away what information comes to mind to help in parenting. But, why should it? God is the perfect parent. Loving us no matter what. Sending His son to take our place. We didn't deserve that but God did it anyway. Again, because He loves us. Pretty cool family to be a part of.