Family

The other night at church we talked about family. Specifically, the new family of God. I think that our blood family, our flesh and blood, are usually meant to be temporary measures (other than marriage). I think parents are only called to be parents for enough time to get their kids out into the world. Then, those kids are responsible to God.

Now, this topic is both easy and difficult for me for the same reasons. It is easy because my dad gave up on parenting pretty early. I honestly didn't have much of a relationship with him. My mom kind of gave up the ghost on parenting because she could only focus on making enough to get us by. My sisters are both great people, and my grandma may be the kindest person I have ever known, but ultimately none of them could fulfill the role that I would need. And I think that is true for all of us. It was probably easier for me to grasp because of the unavoidable observation that my family fell pretty short, specifically my dad and mom.

But because of that, I filled the void with friends, and with Christian community. While I am still very poor at community, I have been blessed to recognize the ultimate importance of it. God himself is community, God exists in three persons in one, God created us for community, so it is in our very DNA. And though our DNA family may seem like an end, it is, in my opinion, there to serve a temporary role of teaching us that we belong with others. Idiotic shows like the Bachelorette exist because at their deepest, most vulnerable, people long to be in community. So much that they will attempt to marry people they met a few months ago.

And while it is easy for me to point out idiocy there, it exists in sports teams, nerd conventions (like comic-con) and watching dumb movies. I don't think we should give up all those things, but I do think we should recognize the underlying need that they are manifesting. We all want to be part of the team, we all want someone to love us, we all want someone to share our interests, because we are, in some strange way, an extension of the eternal trinity.