No matter where you go or what you do with your life, your family will always be a part of it. Whether it’s through past memories or current gatherings, your family and how you relate to each other will affect you. While you will be independent and able to make your own decisions someday, your family will always play some sort of role in your life.

The seeds you sow now for harmony, understanding and wholeness can go a long way towards the future growth of healthy family relationships.

What type of seeds did you sow in your relationship with your parents that may affect how you relate to them now? What do you wish you would have done differently? What were you glad you did? 

A verbal shot is fired and our gut tells us to fire back. That word, that attitude from someone else hurt us or made us mad, so we want to give some of that back.

Been there?

How often do we quickly react to something a sibling or parent does or says in a way that raises the level of tension and anger instead of diffusing it? But there is another option! We can choose to stop the madness and think through our words and actions. We can begin to see more clearly that when something provokes us, we have a choice to make before we respond. We can be part of the resolution instead of part of the problem.

Take a recent argument or “loud discussion” you had. Write down what prompted the conversation, then write down each of your responses. Now backtrack and each of you identify the decisions you made that prompted your responses. Maybe you reacted to how something was said, or one word set you off. Maybe you responded out of fear of what could happen. 

Does it ever feel like there are families who are more “perfect” than yours? They dress better, have a nicer house, never seem to fight.

But when we see these famlies, we’re not seeing the full picture; we’re simply seeing a snapshot. If we actually lived in that family and dealt with each person on a daily basis, we would probably realize that the perfect family is, well, a myth.

The truth is that no family is perfect. We are all just human, and when we realize that we can live in the messiness of our families and learn to find the good, we begin to understand the purpose God has in placing us in our particular family.

Have you ever thought a family was “perfect,” only to find out how “normal” they were as you got to know them? Did you ever wish you were part of a different family growing up? Why?

You’ve seen their shiny, happy faces staring at you from picture frames, magazine ads and commercials. They are the perfect family. Every tooth sparkles. Every face beams with joy. And they seem to have everything you don’t.

But the reality is, well they aren’t real. In fact it’s an illusion.

There’s no such thing as a picture perfect family. Families are made up of imperfect people — people like you and me. So how do we live and interact with the family God has placed us in? How do we find a way to be a part of it, instead of just surviving and living for the day when we move on? Because no family is perfect, and no person is either.

Join us October 2, 9 and 16 for this amazing new teaching series!