Family Matters

     Family Matters was a good show that we used to watch several years back. And I am sure there are some that still watch it. We always enjoyed it, but as you consider the name it has two connotations that stick out to me. May I just say a few words about each of them? 

     The first one seems to say to me the matters of the family: the things going on in the family! And the show certainly did share much of that. But think on it with your own family. I am sure that you have several issues that you work on in your family! I am sure you have your good times and your bad times! You have your smooth sailing and your stormy seas. But don't all families? Those good easy times are so wonderful and fill us with love and hope and unity. Those hard times can really try to pull us apart at the seams, but that is when the second thought of family matters needs to be addressed because "Family, Matters!!!!"

     To clarify that second thought just a bit, stop and think of your family as a whole. Then consider each member! Each member of your family can contribute so much to your family. And, yes, maybe sometimes they also cause hurt, drama, messes, etc., but in reality, when all is said and done, please stop and think about what your family would be like without each one of those people in it. Especially consider the good things they add to your life and your family. Sometimes we get too stuck on the negative and forget that there is always positive. Although there are times that we need to dig just a little deeper to find it, it is still there. 

     Now just to take this family matters thought one step higher. Do you ever have family gatherings that not everyone can make it to? Do you ever look around and dearly miss someone who is not there? Now think for just a minute, how it would feel to go through eternity with one of those beloved family members not able to be at a family gathering?! That can be a sad, discouraging, depressing thought, but it can also make us more grateful for the time we have here to spend with our family. There are so many things in this world calling to us and trying to distract us from the more important things. But when all is said and done  what is at the top of the list is that "FAMILY MATTERS" because, besides yourself and what you have become, the only thing that you can take with you to the other side will be your family. That, of course, is each family member's choice not ours, but we can do all we can to love, strengthen and encourage in a positive way each and every family member to remember that it is really "FAMILY THAT MATTERS MOST" here and there!