My new young friend, Katy Ballance, shared something about their family’s recent move from a 30-member congregation to work with a church of 350. Lucy, their almost-four-year-old daughter, looked around during the singing in worship and then, eyes wide, asked, “Daddy, is this all my family?” Katy said she and her husband, Colton, shared a meaningful look with each other before they answered, “Yes, this is our family.”
Out of the mouths of babes. I can just envision Lucy’s wonder, can’t you? First of all, kudos to Colton and Katy for their excellent parenting. They’d obviously taught their daughter about the church being God’s family, to the extent that she understood it to be her very own family! But second, what if we all emulated Lucy’s response? What if, every time we gathered together as a church, we looked around and acknowledged, “Yes, this is my family!” Seems like some beautiful things would result:
Awe. There’s a big difference between 30 and 350 and that sweet little girl was taking it all in. More friends! More adopted grandparents to love on her! More fellow Bible class kids! Whatever was going through her young mind, she was amazed at her new family. I’m so glad for the reminder. It’s easy to take things for granted. Our church family consists of the members who attend where we worship, but it is much bigger than that. There are Christians the world over. When we travel, we can find a church family to worship with. When we go overseas, we can find church family, even if they speak a different language. Whether 30 or 350, they’re our family. I hope we never lose the wonder over that!
Gratitude. God has been so good to us many times through His people. I could easily do a year’s series just on that one aspect of the church. We learn from each other, encourage each other, help each other, worship together, do life together, win souls together…God did that for us.
Ownership. Sometimes we can get caught up in the shortcomings or disappointments of fellow Christians. But taking a moment to look around and remember who they are will put them back in our hearts where they belong. They are MY family. We may not always see eye to eye on everything. We may not always treat each other perfectly. But I belong to them and they belong to me. This means I will love them. I will extend grace to them and they will for me. In addition to that, because they are MY family, I will feel protective of them and stand up for them.
Yes, Lucy, they’re all your family. Thank you for the reminder to embrace that with everything I’ve got.