We ARE Family

What is family? I am surely not the first person to contend that often times family may consist of more than just those people who are related to you by birth. Though there is no denying those, often times crazy people, who are your flesh and blood are family :)
I spent last weekend with my mom and a dear friend of ours (who IS family) at a women's conference. The topic of the conference - you guessed it - family. It was amazing to sit there and realize that just to my left was my own mother and another woman who has been with me for so long that she could be. A woman who, if needed, would step up and step in. Even more amazing is knowing she is not the only one.
We (my biological family) have never lived closed to either side of our family. I don't believe it was ever intentional, but speaks to the need in all of us for family, that we ended up seeking out people to fill the void that was left by not being with family. As a young couple my parents forged a friendship with an older couple in their church. Little did they realize at the time that this couple would become our family. This couple needed children (theirs had moved away) and my parents needed, parents. Sam and Martha Kraft would become my grandparents, as real and close and loving as my biological grandparents. We developed a relationship with them as strong, if not stronger, than any biological family has. What a loss I still feel to this day that they have both passed.
Then, there is our Summerville family. Though most of us don't even live there anymore. It is where we, all separated from family, created our own. This is where we met the Burkes, Dwyers, Woodhams and Seases; families that have walked with ours through joy and sorrow, triumph and defeat. These are people we could run to in a second to celebrate a victory or find comfort in a time of loss. These are people who we can go weeks without speaking to, pick up the phone and never miss a beat. We ARE Family.

Of course, there is no denying my own family - as crazy as I feel it is sometimes. Though I am not naive enough to think that I am not a part of the craziness. But, despite the craziness we are as close as they come. We would move heaven and earth for each other. As children my parents used to tell my sister and me that as long as it was the 4 of us, we would be fine. How true that has proven to be. While there have only been a handful of instances where we've circled the wagons and pulled in to support each other, closing off to others, there is such comfort in knowing we WILL do that for each other and WANT to do that for each other. There is also comfort in knowing that we can have fun - just us.

Now that "just us" includes my own beautiful family; the wonderful man that God has so graciously blessed me with and the precious child we were given. I can tell my child the same thing I was told, as long as we have the 3 of us, we're ok, and we ALWAYS have the 3 of us. We, in the same fashion as my parents, do not live near either of our families. We are so fortunate to both come from such close knit families, that we maintain those close ties in spite of the distance. We know that is where we can find guidance, refuge, support and unconditional love. We can be ourselves with family and everyone loves us anyway - in spite of their frustrations with us sometimes :) We ARE Family.

So it is with the family of God. We, I believe as Beth Moore said this past weekend, all have roles that need to be filled. Some of us need mothers, some of us need to be mothers. Some of us need sisters or brothers, and some of us need to be a sister or a brother. Thus, the family of God is maintained and flourishes. In the end though, one was never meant to be a substitute for the other. Both are vital in each of our lives. Both need to be fostered and sustained, regardless of past trangressions. In the end, after God, family is all we have.