Family Ties

God Himself created us to live in family and He made no mistakes about it when at the very beginning He created male and female to live together and then told them to replenish the earth.  The means of replenishing would be through family.  So the family became God’s foremost display of Himself, His choice means of showing His own love and care.  And that’s why it’s so special, so powerful!  Praise God for such a wonderful institute, a place where we can be cared for, protected, loved, free to be ourselves, to share our most intimate and dear memories.

Words cannot express my own appreciation for my family and childhood, even more so since coming to Mwanza and sharing in the lives of the children at the orphanage.  It’s an unfair part of this sinful world that precious children should ever be left without a home, without parents to care for them individually as God intended, without memories of time and attention being devoted entirely to them.  Each child and teenager deserves that kind of environment, but it doesn’t always happen this way.

Thankfully, God has made family powerful enough to transcend birth so that it can exist among people who have no birth connections.  Thankfully family can be created through love, devotion and concern.  It can be created by intention, by choosing to see someone as part of ourselves regardless of birth.  After all, if this wasn’t the case, a man and woman would never marry. We can choose children in the same way as we choose a spouse. We can choose brothers and sisters.  We can choose to love and create family.  We can choose to add to the lives of others and allow them to add to our lives.  We can choose to be transparent and open and build relationships of trust and freedom.  We can choose to give ourselves freely and lovingly.  We can choose to create family ties where otherwise there would be none.

Everyone needs to be loves. Everyone needs a place of protection. Everyone needs a place in which to learn how to live – to walk, talk, act and function in society.  Everyone needs a place of safety, a focal point or that stable place to which they can return when the world treats them unfair or hurts them.  And though this does not exist right now, we know it should, and it reminds us that God’s plan is greater, that He has more in store.  And though we cannot create such a place for everyone, we can create it for those we know and meet.  We can open our hearts and lives and pour into others.  I’m thankful God blessed me with a family who taught me to love and who loved me so much that today I have at least some to give away, and I can give it without worrying if there will be enough because I have learned after these years that love only increases!