Family Matters

Anyone remember the show "Family Matters" with Steve Urkel?  My most favorite moments in that show would be Urkel's clumsiness followed by the famous line, "Did I do that?"  Maybe it is the fact that it brings me back to a more innocent time in my childhood, but I just don't see anything on TV like that anymore!  All of the newer shows have divorced parents, or wimpy parents that allow their kids to walk all over them.  What?  Let me tell you, if I talked back... well let's just say I RARELY talked back because I just knew something would happen.  My parents weren't the type to allow a child to be the head of the household.  And I am thankful for that!  My parents weren't perfect but they always had our best interests in mind, and at the end of the day I appreciated the rules.  Rules may be seen by some as control, but those same "rules" kept me safe and out of trouble.  If I were left to my own devices I surely wouldn't be in bed by 9:30pm  at 18 years old that's for certain!  But thank God they taught me the importance of a good night's sleep- something I am trying to regain in my life after almost 7 months of a newborn waking me up at all hours.

So where am I going with this, you may be thinking to yourself.  Well it's all in the name of that good ol' show... Family... matters!  I just got back late last night from a quick two day trip to celebrate my cousin's college graduation.  I was able to bring my two boys along and visit with both sides of my family.  I love family, everything about them.  The good, the bad, and yes even the ugly.  My mother would always tell me that friends may come and go but family is forever.  The sad thing is that while that statement is true for my life, it isn't for many I have talked with.  Honestly, that makes my heart hurt.  Being a part of a family is how I first understood real love and putting other's above yourself.  Being a part of a family taught me how to forgive and forget.  Being a part of a family gave me a foundation that allowed me to build the rest of my life on.  Being a part of a family made me the person I am today.  I can't imagine not being a part of a family.

The sad truth is that not everyone is given that same opportunity to experience what I did, and if you are one of those people let me express to you how truly sorry I am.  Whether your real mother or not, I hope you were given the opportunity to have someone take care of you when you were sick, bring your lunch to school when you forgot it, and give you a hug that took the pain from any situation away.  Whether your real father or not, I hope you were given the opportunity to have someone cheer for you from the stands even if you were running in last place, work hard for your family so that you would be able to join sports or clubs that interested you, and scared the boys away when they were up to no good.  But here is the amazing truth... even if you were not as fortunate as some who did have this thing called "family", that doesn't mean that you can't have it.  I have met amazing fathers who never had a father, I have met amazing mothers who never had a mother, and I have met amazing men and women who have beautiful marriages that never saw a successful marriage modeled in their own life.  It is my prayer that no matter what situation you lived through, you have faith for your own marriage and your own family.  Beyond our circumstances is a greater deciding truth for our futures, it is your choice.  Choose to be the better version of who you were yesterday.  The bible tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue, so choose life!  Choose life, and speak life! 

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live ²⁰ And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.