everyone starts out in the safe comfort of their mother's womb and from the moment they enter the world they start to find out about life little by little. these past few weeks, i've been relearning the importance of family. whether you are born, adopted or married into a family, family is family.
on mother's day, my parents flew in to spend the last few weeks with A and me. now the thing about mothers, and i know i'll probably be one of these mothers as all mothers are, is that even though from the moment their baby comes out they start figuring out life, they want to hold your hand and walk you through it. i hear from people over 60 year old say that their mom is still so involved in their life. funny how mothers are... but anyway, it was such a great thing to be with my mom on mother's day and be a family.
then for a week i spent it with P's family... now i wasn't born into this family, but from the moment i stepped into their lives in may of 2004, they accepted me as family. AP greeted me with the best hug ever at the airport... dad, as a dentist, gave me the best compliment about my chompers... mom told me how P never brought a girl home before and this was a big deal... MP made me a homemade milkshake a few minutes after i mentioned i liked them... they loved me then and still do now... so when i said good-bye to them, it was hard... the hardest was when dad was leaving for work after lunch and we were saying our last good-byes... he reached for my hand and held it... he didn't have to say much, but i knew his heart.
the other thing about family i feel is that they are the best and worst... i mean you could spend so much time away from them and still start the same place you ended, but they are also the ones that drive you nuts the most. (just being honest. i know many feel this way. - i think P was the one that drove me nuts the most, but who i loved the most too. we still have that problem, even though he's been gone almost a year, he gets on my nerves the most, but i still miss him the most.) but through all that, family is family. so you may have the worst of times, but then mom may make your favorite meal or your sister may do something really nice or your dad may take your kids out for you or your husband brings home a bouquet of flowers... whatever it may be... you remember how much they mean to you and then the worst goes away.
i'm also adopted into many families and what an honor that has been over time... but the best family is happens to be the body/family in Christ. and what a blessing this family is... what a blessing it is that the Lord Himself shed blood for us that we may be a family in Him. i'm floored by that... and how i could go to a church that i barely know 4 people, but feel like i'm part of the family. it happened to me these past two sundays... i walk into a church and i know that those people love me, pray for me and really care for me. what a body/family it is... and over this year, i've come to so appreciate the family of christ... that in the midst of the worst time of my life, they surrounded me with love, care, support, and prayer. i don't know where i would be without so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ. it's like enjoying a piece of heaven on earth.
the things is... we are family by blood, whether it is biological or through Christ, blood is what brings us together. i feel sad thinking of all those out there not in a family... abandoned, run aways, or whatever circumstance... if only they knew there was blood that will take them in as family... that it's already there readily available for them to be a member of the family... that membership is even free... something to think about huh?
what a gift family is... my family, P's family, the M's, the R's, the B's... and all those in the Lord.
