Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Family
Looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
In Illinois, and in Texas, we are surrounded by family. Our dads died awhile ago, and our moms not long ago, but we have sisters and brother nearby, and our kids with their families are just a hop and a skip away. Unlike the families of many of our friends, we feel loved by them and love them ourselves.
Not that we agree on everything. We vote differently, and have for years. We have various outlooks on salvation, church-going, sin and forgiveness. Chris, Marc and Andi experienced our ways of parenting, but with their own children they make different choices than we did on a regular basis. None of our family members walks around constantly carrying a critical spirit, and none of us is a narcissist.
We are so grateful for this peaceable kingdom. It’s helpful to have some idea about simple ways to sustain this peace. Warmth, empathy and respect can become habits. Transparency and honest confession are gifts we can offer each other relatively often.
Gary Smalley wrote The Key to Your Child’s Heart. In this book Gary provides a questionnaire for both parents and kiddos to complete: “84 ways we can offend our children, without even realizing it.” Take a look. For example, #9 … “giving me the feeling that they never make mistakes.”
Am I so proud and perfect?
Gary intends for parents to complete the checklist alongside their kids. After all, we were kids too once upon a time. Our wisdom won’t be compromised, but rather enhanced, when we make honest observations about how we came to be the way we are.
I have to admit I don’t know myself as well as I think. Gary’s questions help. So do sentence completions, which might be a good way to meet someone on a first date, but they are also a good way to meet myself:
- I am…
- The main thing about me is…
- I always…
- I feel most like me when…
- What I like most about a person is…
- I will be…
- I get angry when…
- I feel happiest when…
- I believe in…
- One thing I want to accomplish is…
- What I like most about myself is…
- I hate it when…
- I was…
- I feel least like me when…
- If you really knew me…
- I feel weakest when…
- I never…
- When I feel angry I…
- On a rainy day I like to…
- I feel good when I remember…
- When I’m alone I feel…
- Most of all I really want…
- I was the type of child who…
- One thing I’d like to change about myelf is…
- I feel strongest when…
- On a beautiful day I like to…
- My favorite pastime is…
- When I feel happy I like to…
- If my relationship with ___________ were to end…
- I pretend to be…
- Most people don’t know that I…
- I give the impression of…
- The mask I wear is…
- On the surface I am…
- A game I play…
- I hide behind…
I have waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped toward me. He put a new song into my mouth.
Blood is thick when it comes to family. Jesus points out that his blood is thicker. Contribute to the community by eating and drinking the eucharist together. Know how close we are even when we fight about the smallest things. Be grateful whenever you break the bread and drink the wine. Know how much you’re loved.
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.
For the next three days I’ll be traveling from Urbana to Austin, Texas (weather and God permitting). So on Wed, Thu and Fri, Jan 29-31, I will post devotions from the same days in 2022. Hope you enjoy them!
(Hebrews 10, Psalm 40, Matthew 11, Mark 3)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
#
