It is Friday, so you all know what that means…. Pray for FAMILIES! If you stop reading here and kneel down and pray, I have already done my job!
To grasp why we pray weekly for families, it’s important to understand what makes them important in the first place.
The family is the foundational unit of society. It is the very first community that we experience. Several “firsts” occur within the family: love, stability, relationships, discipline (actions have consequences!), responsibility (Do I have too?!), and authority (Because I said so!) The family is our training grounds for the real world. We learn that men and women don’t think alike at all! We learn that you can argue and disagree with someone and still be loved! We learn about morality and right and wrong. Plus we learn the importance of taking care of, and being present for, our immediate and extended family. These learnings and best practices are then carried out into the society at large for the benefit of the greater good.
When the family crumbles however, the lesson plan often changes and both the family and society suffer.
So with Christian love, assist a family that is vulnerable or fractured. Offer to provide babysitting to a couple who needs time away from the children to work on their relationship. Offer to entertain the children of a single parent who would love an hour to get done whatever they haven’t had time for. Offer a few hours of respite care to the women/man who is a constant caregiver to their spouse and feels they can’t leave them home alone. Offer anything you can think of to help strengthen a family unit.
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 1John 3:18Pray and take action.
Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet
