Today was family picture day...not always the best memories at the time (of getting squeezed together and having lights flash at you,) but the picture always turn out great and the memories of where everyone was in their life at that moment in time is so great to be captured on camera. I've been thinking a lot about families; probably because the Speigle fam is all together for a few short days... Josh is home from the Navy on leave, Melissa flew in from BYU, we live just minutes from my parents, and the not so "little girls" are still at home with Mom and Dad. It is great to be all together.
It seems that I've just been hearing so much about the importance of families lately- how a family is the fundamental unit of society, how families can be forever, how families shape the morals and values of posterity, and how our family relations are one of the things that we will take with us in the here after. I guess, with all of this, I've usually just been applying it to my immediate little family of me, Drew, Abigail and Lauren and kind of disregarding the larger extended families that we are all a part of. With this new perspective, every topic of family life or the importance of families that I felt pretty confident with with my little family is in need of work with my extended family.
If families are the most important and fundamental unit of society- then shouldn't those units be linked together into larger connected families and all be striving for the same goals together? Maybe this has seemed obvious to everyone else, but for me it's just really hit home recently that strengthening families is something that I do not just as a mom and a wife, but as a daughter and a sister and a cousin and a niece and granddaughter and a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law and an aunt and on and on. So just when I think I'm getting this 'family relations' thing down, I have many more roles and relationships that I can be strengthening and many more parts to a greater family that I also want to be forever.
Families are tricky. We love one another and yet we can't stand each other. We pray for one another and yet we judge each other. We'd give our lives for one another and yet we fight with one another. Families can be forever... but I sometimes find myself wondering if our relationships are such that we'd even want to be together forever. Now, I know we do, but today as I found myself getting upset with a sibling or frustrated with an aunt, it is hard to be so sure.
It seems that I've just been hearing so much about the importance of families lately- how a family is the fundamental unit of society, how families can be forever, how families shape the morals and values of posterity, and how our family relations are one of the things that we will take with us in the here after. I guess, with all of this, I've usually just been applying it to my immediate little family of me, Drew, Abigail and Lauren and kind of disregarding the larger extended families that we are all a part of. With this new perspective, every topic of family life or the importance of families that I felt pretty confident with with my little family is in need of work with my extended family.
If families are the most important and fundamental unit of society- then shouldn't those units be linked together into larger connected families and all be striving for the same goals together? Maybe this has seemed obvious to everyone else, but for me it's just really hit home recently that strengthening families is something that I do not just as a mom and a wife, but as a daughter and a sister and a cousin and a niece and granddaughter and a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law and an aunt and on and on. So just when I think I'm getting this 'family relations' thing down, I have many more roles and relationships that I can be strengthening and many more parts to a greater family that I also want to be forever.
Families are tricky. We love one another and yet we can't stand each other. We pray for one another and yet we judge each other. We'd give our lives for one another and yet we fight with one another. Families can be forever... but I sometimes find myself wondering if our relationships are such that we'd even want to be together forever. Now, I know we do, but today as I found myself getting upset with a sibling or frustrated with an aunt, it is hard to be so sure.
Families are so important to the eternal plan, and I think the advesary knows that as well. So many times I think that the fastest way to drag us down to misery is through breaking up the family unit- because what can bring so much joy can also bring so much heartache- and so he works extra hard to try the patience of all and attack the family.
I've been rambling... but I guess my point is that I feel the Lord's kindness in allowing my family to be together today, and for giving us the opportunity to keep our family together for eternity. I am grateful for the realization that my work to have my family be forever is not just for my immediate family, but for my extended family as well, of whom I love and want to spend eternity with. I am grateful for the truths and blessings of eternal families, and look forward to sharing the here after with the people I love most.
I've been rambling... but I guess my point is that I feel the Lord's kindness in allowing my family to be together today, and for giving us the opportunity to keep our family together for eternity. I am grateful for the realization that my work to have my family be forever is not just for my immediate family, but for my extended family as well, of whom I love and want to spend eternity with. I am grateful for the truths and blessings of eternal families, and look forward to sharing the here after with the people I love most.
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