“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (Ephesians 3:14-15, NIV).

He smoked me at kickball, and every game we played was always by his rules. He’ll be eight years old in December. At night I made up adventure stories, with him and his best friend in strange worlds where bravery and genius helped them survive. His sister is six, but more independent than I was when I left for college. She is beautiful, loves to dance and feels sorry for me every time she destroys me at the Matching Game. We were blessed to spend four days with them while their parents spent a few days in the Smoky Mountains with their friends.

Jesus clearly asks us not to love our family more than we love Him, but there’s little else we should love nearly as much. Families are complex and messy, just as each of us is complex and messy, but they are the model God chose to build His community on earth. Whether our family consists of parents, siblings, spouses, children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, God provided these relationships as both blessing and responsibility.

When family life is good, there is no greater joy than being together. Family at its best is a foretaste of heaven. Family at its worse may be a foretaste of hell, but it’s still worth every effort to help move them toward God’s beautiful plan. When family life is hard, we get to grow, as God gives us the opportunity to become more like Christ in grace and sacrificial love.

Family should be fought for; each member of our family should be fought for, even the weakest and least appreciated.

Family should be nurtured; each member of our family should be nurtured, even the one who rejects our nurturing.

Family should be grounded in Christ; we should live and witness so that each member in our family becomes grounded in Christ, including the ones who have drifted farthest from Him.

Family should be enjoyed. I pray to God this could be true someday for all families, as it was for me with my grandchildren last weekend.

Dear Father,

Let me be faithful to you and faithful to my family.

Amen