Family

Sometimes I wonder what I fail to understand in the lives of others due to my healthy experience of family life. I grew up in a very stable home, where I never doubted my parent's love for each other, or for God. How many people do I come in contact with every day that simply never experienced that? Many people I know have had less then ideal family lives. There is no doubting the setback that it potentially can be.

I was contemplating my life today. I realized that I still live my life before my family, the people most permanent and most important in my life. When I accomplish something, I am most proud for them. When I fail, I feel their disappointment more than anyone else. And not in an negative way. Rather, I want to be all I can because I want them to be proud. I don't imagine having the same initiative, the same drive, the same obligation to work hard, strive for integrity, and succeed without having the family I do.

And having said that, I imagine if I felt God's call to go somewhere, or do something my family might not understand, they would be the ones I would have the hardest time letting down.

Then I look at the life of Jesus - he lived before only one audience, that of his Father. His earthly family were often confused and hurt by his strange and independent behavior. But his concern was really with only one - his heavenly Father. Truthfully, Jesus mission would have been crippled had he given careful and special attention to the ties with his own family. After all, Jesus commanded his followers to "let the dead bury their own dead" when someone wanted to pay respects to a father that had passed, and that they were to "hate their own families" in comparison to God.

Troubling words to be sure. But Jesus was telling us something about the approval of men, and in particular, our own families, whose approval usually holds the most weight. No matter how righteous and loving our families, living according to their standard and direction rather than God's is sure to produce a life that is at the very best, limited, and at worst, wasted.