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| Dinner's Ready! ..and upon hearing that, in they come! .... to the table...not only because my family loves food, but because early on - even before we had children - we (me and my Roger) would eat supper at the kitchen table. ...with no TV, no radio, no distractions. It was just a way of life for us. I really have to give Roger the credit though because he is the one who has insisted on it (at the table ... no TV, no radio, no distractions!) since the beginning of our wedded life. Actually, we both grew up having family time around the kitchen table. It was and is still a time to relax and refresh, and I ... relish it! Oh, there have been times none of us wanted to sit at the same table with one or the other, and maybe there were times we stomped off from that table because we didn't want to eat with one or the other. But I tell you food has more power than anger and we'd be drawn right on back to that table! ...you know though, actually I think that it's family that has more power than anger and that's what draws us back. I mean!....we do have to live with each other, now don't we?!! One of my most favorite TV commercials is one in which a man is standing in his office when suddenly he is swooped up by his office chair which proceeds to jet-propel that man through the office, out the door and into and through traffic - afternoon traffic, nonetheless. His face is full of panic and fear, not to mention tee-total unbelief! He holds on for dear life as he is driven - at the speed limit - by that office chair which eventually deposits him to his very own house, through his very own front door and at his very own .... (you got it...) dinner table. ...safe and sound! ...and much to his astonishment, there sits the rest of his family - his wife (who apparently was jet-propelled from the hairdresser), his son (who was apparently snapped up from some sporting event) and his daughter (who apparently was swooped in from doing her own thing) - and dinner is laid out before them on that table. The commercial is a sponsorship by Nick@Nite called The Family Table. I love it! A time set aside to get to know one another and about one another. Catch-up time ...quality time! Although my stomach is growling from so much talk about food and tables, we are here today really to talk about the family *- family >noun (pl. families) 1) a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit. 2) a group of people related by blood or marriage. 3) the children of a person or couple. 4) all the descendants of a common ancestor. 5) all the languages derived from a particular early language. 6) a group united by a significant shared characteristic. 7) Biology a principal taxonomic category ranking above genus and below order. >adjective designed to be suitable for children as well as adults. Someone just recently sent me a devotional on the family that bears repeating. Read what it had to say..... From God's Daily Promises Devotional - "This week's promise: We are adopted into God's family" What is family? Proverbs 6:20-23 (NLT) "My son, obey your father's commands, and don't neglect your mother's teaching. Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around our neck. Wherever you walk, their counsel can lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up in the morning, they will advise you. For these commands and this teaching are a lamp to light the way ahead of you. The correction of discipline is the way to life." Psalm 127:1, 3 (NLT) "unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. *Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him". - God's idea .... Families were God's unique idea from the beginning. There is no greater institution, no better group of people to effect positive change in the world than the family. There is no better place to learn the essential principles of life than the family. And nowhere can the truths of God's Word be more effectively taught and modeled. Conversely, there is no institution, no group of people with more power and ability to destroy a person than the family. Physical and verbal abuse, as well as neglect, can damage the emotional well being of a child well into adulthood, and often for a lifetime. The failure of parents to teach spiritual truths to their children directly impacts their relationship with God and how they treat others. Family is the environment that shapes a child's lifetime direction." (... Amen? Amen!) Acrostic: F - FATHER, MOTHER, SISTERS, BROTHERS .... "We are FA-MI-LY" just like that song sings .... Genesis
2:24 "For this cause a man shall leave his father
and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become
one flesh." A - ACT ... now - NOW's the time .... Proverbs
4:11-15 "I have directed you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in upright paths. When you walk, your steps will
not be impeded; and if you run, you will not stumble. Take hold
of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life.
Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not proceed in the
way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by it; turn away from it
and pass on." M - MATTERS ... of the heart, nonetheless ..... Mark 12:29-31 "Jesus answered, 'The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor (...and family) as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these. " I - INVOLVED ... get, get INVOLVED and give INSTRUCTION, INSIGHT and INFLUENCE ..... Deuteronomy
11:18-20 "You shall therefore impress these
words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind
them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your
forehead. And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of them
when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and
when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." L - LOVE ... is the connection ..... 1
Corinthians 13:4-8a "Love is patient, love is kind, and
is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not
act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does
not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails ...." Y - YOURS ... MINE & OURS .... and that's what family is all about .... YOURS and MINE becoming OURS! Genesis
12:1-3 "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from
your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house,
to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great
nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so
you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you,
and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.' " FAMILY! ...and not only that but we, as Christian Believers, are
part of another family .... A Royal Family ... a family who is headed up by the .... F - FATHER (God, our Father - Romans 8:15-16) .... FAMILY! ... and as part of this Royal Family we will get to sit at another table. Read some of the words to a song I love entitled - God and Man at Table Are Sat Down .... Worship in the presence of the Lord FAMILY! We are FA-MI-LY! ...and for you - my precious Brothers and Sisters - I am thankful! Amen? AMEN! Kelli |
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