TODAY THE WORDS are FAMILY TREE. As trees usually grow tall and straight, sometimes family trees are twisted and knarred. I have gotten amused at most people always referring to the family members who made it in a big way and minimizing those members who almost fell off the family tree (there are some in our family too). I am not making light of people’s plight in life; but some of us have people in our family that seem to resist any normal life at all and we wonder if the same blood flows through their veins. You know what I am talking about; I feel the eyebrows raising at the thought of the cousin, uncle, or sibling that you love but somehow you hope they don’t show up for the wedding, shower, hospital, but you know they will be at the family reunion or a funeral. What we have to realize is this is life at its most realistic view. A family tree is exactly that; it is a tree with all of the branches going out in all directions with different size branches and some have more leaves; some do not. A tree starts out with the roots; usually strong and firmly planted and a strong trunk. You have seen trees that even with the best fertilizer, regular watering, and attention; they die and so do families. Somehow, some way, families start veering off in different directions and they lose the firmness and the strength of the tree and it weakens branches and they start falling off the family tree. Sometimes we try too hard to accommodate weak branches instead of realizing not all branches of a tree are strong; we damage other branches in the process. Now, I am going to get right down to the point of the message……God has never required us to go along with the crowd or family if they are not walking in the path of righteousness…..He has asked us to love them, not approve of whatever. When we were younger, we heard of tough love and tough love had its purpose. I realize times have changed as I keep hearing. Times have changed; parents and families have gotten softer with expectations! We, as young people, were taught the value of hard work; good morals; and family values. When one family branch did not do right; it was not condoned, it was down right wrong. Family trees are only as strong as we allow them to be. If you want a strong family, take time; stop making excuses for them; take control of young people’s time and expect the best; discipline the worst. Have we tended our family tree lately?
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
(c) copyright 2013 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
