Family

So. They gathered together to eat, drink and honor my sixty-seventh birthday. Over-the-top merriment and delight in each other always ensures when this crazy bunch assembles, whatever the excuse. Though it cannot be denied that the kids are the biggest benefactors of the memories made in real time. 

Of course, they don’t realize this but they are quietly being shaped by these events and will, one day, pull them out, all melded together as reinforcement against and antidote to the overwhelming tides of time. As long ago as it was, I still vividly recall the fish-fries of my childhood family and later, the celebrations of my own young family. 

As I soldier on I continue to find treasure in the sounds of kids whooping and hollering, adults visiting, sharing, laughing and those intangibles that underwrite, unbeknownst to all, the real importance of family. 

We live in an age that seems determined to redefine the family unit, but regrettably not in a good or uplifting way. The object is ostensibly to demand inclusion in the determination of what a ‘family’ is or is not. But I think the agenda is much more sinister than that. The goal is to make family, the time-proven influence in positive human development, passé, antiquated and unnecessary. If that objective could be met, then it would be a short final step to belonging to nothing but the state and thus beholden to what the state deems acceptable or not, what to think, believe, and follow. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t new. It’s been tried many times. It always fails because there is one small glitch, that pesky component called human nature. Humans are instinctively tribal. This can never be regulated or educated out of us. It is a condition that continues on, even if it has to morph and appear to be something else.  

I’m blogging about this as a way to thank my family for the memorable joy they give me all the time. And more than that, I am making this an opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to God for all my blessings. I couldn’t possibly list them all. While a few are material things, most are the outstanding individuals who, altogether, define my reason for being. 

Thank you. Thank You.

For Him,

Meema

(Ephesians 3:14) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father,  (3:15) from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  (3:16) that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;  (3:17) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  (3:18) may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  (3:19) and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.