Family Time

I am in the suburbs of Chicago visiting my sister and her family. It has been fabulous to be able to hang out, meet her new baby (how tiny she is!) and get to know her growing toddler who is just starting to become a separate personality within the home. The older boys are terrific as well, but I must say that the little ones tend to draw more of my attention since my visits with my sister are so sporadic and the changes that occur between visits are dramatic with the younger kids. My nephew is finally of age to be interactive with me, and I delight in getting to know him.

As I have spent time in reflection this week, I have begun to observe the similarities and differences between my sister and myself. Several little things that we have laughed about together when noticing how we are becoming like our mother in many little ways. Other things one of us does but the other does not are also fun to observe. I am more "Norwegian" in the way I prepare meals (our mother was Norwegian and moved to the U.S. after marriage), she is more like our mom in the way she loves her shoes. We both find weeding flower beds to be relaxing and were grinning this morning when discussing how we used to hate helping with our grandmother's beds each summer in Norway. It seemed so unjust to have to spend a few hours or a couple of days at their house in the town tending the gardens when we would much rather have been at "our" house on the beach playing...the silliness of self-centered youth. Gosh we were so spoiled then. :-)

In my musings I kept realizing how at home I feel with my sister. It is like putting on a favorite old shirt that is soft and comforting. Walking into my sister's life is a homecoming of sorts each time we get together. The familiar patterns and relationship, the comfort of unconditional love ~ knowing there is no pretense or competition between us ~ the joy of celebrating each other and supporting one another's burdens...This all comes so naturally to us after the years of growing together.

This legacy is one I pray to pass on to my kids. We all need people who really know us well and really love us anyway. Black or white, we belong. Isn't this what God intends for our relationship with Him? The ease of familiarity, the joy of return, the comfort of knowing acceptance, and the awesome power of transforming love. Though God expects obedience, it flows naturally from this form of love. I naturally want to do for my sister whatever she needs, I naturally want to serve her and support her while I am here...isn't that how we feel when we are really visiting with God versus just passing through? Resting in Him, talking with Him and listening to what He has to share? Seeking His input, sharing familiar past history, delighting in the present while musing about the future. It forms in me a desire to spend even more time getting to know Him ~ inside and out ~ to have spent enough time and become so familiar that He truly is family in the deepest sense of the word. Innate experiential knowing that I belong to Him versus a head knowledge that He is my Father.

As I typed that section, it occured to me that this is kind of like when I was getting to know my youngest nephew here...I had a tough time the first two years of his life really "knowing" him. I often dropped him off my radar when visualizing my sister's family in a quick thought, I had not spent enough time with him or his family, and when we were together at our annual gathering, he was so young that he was less "visible" among the many kids in our family (12 kids, 8 adults until our recent 13th addition). Lack of time together, lack of phone time discussing the kids, busy separate family lives ~ all led to less familiarity than I had known with the other kids.

Isn't this the same with getting to know God as He longs to be known? As we prioritize spending time with Him, the more familiar He becomes. As we spend more time daily reading His word, talking with Him in prayer, listening to Him in silence, the easier it is to know Him intimately and the more easily we shake off desire for independence. Praise God for His grace, mercy, and tenderness that makes this relationship possible. Thank you, Jesus, for your incredible sacrifice of love!