F - A - M - I - L - Y

F A M I L Y - I wanted to write what this means to me..I believe Satan has attacked this institution for many many years and has now placed a full court press on disrupting and displacing the family, the importance of the family and the significance of the family..See I consider the family the fabric of the society..Good Strong families represent a Good Strong Healthy Society..If you can think of a Thick sheet of Bounty paper towel held in your hands with an object resting in the middle..The sheet has no trouble holding the object there firmly and securely..The family is like this paper towel..It holds our society together and secures it.. but what happens to the paper towel if it gets wet and then develops a tear..at that moment the object it was holding is in jeopardy of falling..just like our society is when the families began to get torn apart and attacked..It rips the fabric and soon, the families which once were the strength of our existence are now in dangerous peril and society as a whole is in very dangerous times..Families are more than just Husband and wife and kids..Families are the centerpiece, and hopefully those families are resting on a proper foundation..which is Jesus Christ..so as I pondered over this idea of the family and what it meant to me and to society at large, I began to see more clearly the attacks that have been perpetuated against the family, much of which goes unnoticed and is couched under the worldview of everyone deserves, or tolerance or you have a right.. The concept and idea of family is under intense fire from the evil one and he knows that if he can destroy the family, he can take down our society and the world as we know it..I refuse to allow him to destroy my family and I hope all those who are reading this will stand strong for their family and if each one (family) will do this, we can defend this institution and strengthen the fabric that holds this society together..

F - Family..Family to me is spouses, kids, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, grand kids, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews...together we have this bond that is distinct to us that separates us from others. There is a special love for one another..You can go years without seeing or talking to one of them and yet when you do see them, you feel just as much love for them as if you had talked yesterday..Barriers are not there like they are with strangers..When we hurt, we turn to family.....when we are excited, we cant wait to tell our family... when we achieve, we look to our family for recognition...When we are in trouble, we look to our family..Our family is where we turn in all aspects of life..They are the first to know, the first to embrace and are there when everyone else has something better to do or cares no more..

A - Adolescence - I am not sure why this is what comes to my mind but it is a stage we all go thru on our way to adulthood..It has a particular place in the family dynamics..It can strain the family, yet strengthen as well..As we pass thru this stage, we feel like we as individuals know all that needs to be known and families are restrictive and suffocating..and not needed...till we come out of this "funk" and see this stage was much like a butterfly in the cocoon..it was a stage that shaped us and made us into who we eventually become and on the other side of adolescence, do we really begin to see just how important our family actually is..How needed they really are...How significant of a role they will play in our lives

M - Maturity - this is almost the opposite of adolescence. Maturity is an evolving process in which we see the world..The more mature we become, the clearer we see this world for what is really is.. The ability to understand the importance of our family and our place in the family dynamics..Maturity is a sign of getting your wings if you were a butterfly..This maturity offers you freedom however with that freedom comes choices and consequences for those choices..Choose wrongly and life can fall off the tracks..Choose wisely and life can have meaning and purpose. Maturity also for me represents an understanding of roles..Parents in particular..Parents have responsibility of another human life and that responsibility takes maturity.. To grow up future parents and family members.. Parents who lack maturity are detrimental to the fabric because they shook their responsibility to raise the child properly and therefore the result can be devastating to the child and to the future of that child and how they view this world..Maturity is having the blinders of adolescence lifted so you can see what was once blind to us..This is extremely important in the overall fabric of the family and the strength of our society

I - Illness and Suffering - I know that when most think of illness, family is not what might come to mind..but if you give this term serious thought...it is all that does come to mind..When illness or suffering strikes an individual...who rallies around them..The Family..Who cares for them..The Family..Who stays bedside for hours on end, holding your hand..Your Family..Illness has a mysterious way of bonding a family together and strengthening it like nothing else can..Illness can settle old disagreements..Illness can lay to rest bitterness and anger..Illness can and often does grant us new perspective on life and what is really important..What you will hear from a family that has to endure such events is how it brought everyone closer..and you might hear phrases such as " Going thru this helped me to see how important my family is and how insignificant material things really are." Ask someone in a terminal situation who they want around them or what they want from life...and they will often tell you family..You will not hear them say, I just want to advance at work, or I just want to make a little more money..or I just want to work a few extra hours..It is almost always a desire to spend their last days with family doing whatever..but with family..So Illness in my eyes is a part of our life..some will get dealt some very bad hands and others not so much, but to believe life is not about illness and suffering has not lived very long.. I believe there is purpose in this and I have to believe that many times it has the power to restore what was once broken..or heal what was once wounded..THE FAMILY..so when illness or suffering strikes..know that all things happen for a reason and God has His sovereign hand in all things

L - Laughter - What would life be like with no laughter..When I reflect on my life and ponder those moments when laughter was abounding, it had something to do with my family. Raising kids, hanging with cousins, spending time with grandparents or grand kids..All of these have laughter associated with them..We cry with our family, we laugh with our family..Laughter is like a medicine that buffers the stress and pressures of life..The more you laugh the more joyful your life is and the less you allow life to press down on you..Yes I laugh with friends and sometimes complete strangers..but I get this big ol smile on my face as I think about the instances laughter has taken over and all those have something to do with someone in my family..whether it be my hilarious kids, or my off the cuff wife, or my in laws, or my cousins, or my nieces and nephews..The pain and wounds that life can open up in us can be mended with the laughter of those we love..If you are a parent and you hear your kids laughing..I mean laughing from the gut to where they can barely breathe..there are few greater moments in life that can replace those moments..a sense of joy spreads like chill bumps on a cold day..Just amazing..So laugh, be joyful...don't allow life to press you down where it steals your joy..Laugh and Love, Love and Laugh and share this with your family..

Y - Yo Yo - what do yo yo's do? They go up and down..Does that resemble life at all..? I would say absolutely..Family life is filled with hilltops and valleys, triumphs and tragedies..The one thing I also know is that yo yo doesn't stay up for very long and doesn't stay down for very long..and just like life..there are seasons we pass thru.. Who do you want by your side when you are on the hilltop..Your boss or your spouse..Your co worker or your kids.. Who do you want by your side in the lowest of the valleys..Your soul mate partner in life..or the next door neighbor..Your wise parents, or the stranger in the mall..We want those close to us to experience life with us..the good and the bad..Those close to us are those who are connected in a way no other person is..by the bond of being called FAMILY..

I felt like I needed to say this and put it in writing so I can refer back to it from time to time. I hope as you read this, you will have allowed your mind to drift in and out of your experiences with your family and hopefully you can see the importance of the family and its intertwining in our society..Stand firm for your family...It is your family that stands firm for you!!

EB

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