family

Sometimes you are born into family and sometimes extra family is given by the Lord’s great goodness.  I have both.  And I could not be more thankful.

This weekend I was in Panama with my Uncle Joe and his family.  He has been a part of my family for as long as I can remember.  I taught him how to change my brothers’ diapers when I was just a kid and he brought me a hammock from Panama, tickled me mercilessly, and spent a lot of time just investing his life into us.  This weekend I got a chance to be part of his family and spend time with his kids.  I love how the Lord does that.  What a blessing!

At one point Ana Raquel, seven years old, asked me “Is my dad part of your family?”.  “Of course he is, Ana Raquel, and so are you.”  I loved sitting at the table with she and her mom at dinner on Sunday night.  Ana Raquel was sad that I was leaving and her mom just kept explaining that we will see each other again, it may be years, but we’re family and we will see each other.  And even when we don’t see each other, we still love each other, because we are family.  I’m not sure Ana Raquel quite understood, but I love the picture that painted of the merging of two different families… we’ve adopted each other.  And what a picture of how the Lord adopts us into his family and calls us His own children… allowing us to be brothers and sisters.

I have a lot of aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins, second moms and dads… some blood related and some not… and the family is constantly growing.  I have friends who have joined our family, people get married, and its impossible to keep up with everyone.  But it doesn’t matter because the Lord has done a miracle in the hearts and lives of these people to love one another, to sacrifice for each other, to provide for each other, to take care of each other, even when we don’t see each other often.  And when someone has a need, there is always someone to help: to bring food, to lend a car, to let you stay at their house in Panama… This is a picture of the body of Christ and I’m so thankful to be a part of it.

I’m so thankful for this legacy of family that my parents have passed on to me.  Truthfully I think its a miracle that the Lord has done and is doing whenever he brings people together to love selflessly.  Its very much against our natural selfish inclinations to love people for what we can get from them.  And not that we ever love perfectly this side of heaven.  But allowing the Lord to extend your family, living with arms wide open, welcoming people into your life, is so worth it.