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This time of year stirs up a lot of emotions. Good and bad. You know why? Because we have good and bad relationships, that’s why. Family gatherings for some are like the home and hearth story of the Waltons but others feel more like being caught in the Gaza strip after curfew.

Somewhere , somehow we have to adjust to new definitions of family, kindred spirits and blood relations. For example, in my family my girls have a lot of “aunts.”  I didn’t realize what was happening until Charis started trying to piece my family tree together.

“So is she your sister, ’cause we call her Aunt Nan?”
“Yes, she is my sister in Jesus.”
“So is Aunt Lou Ann your sister in Jesus?”
“Well yes, because she is a believer too, but Aunt Lou Ann is also my real sister. Well, Aunt Nan is my real sister too. Aunt Lou Ann is my blood sister. Oh (sigh) well, Aunt Nan is my “Blood” sister.” I tried to explain.
“Mama, you got Aunt Nan and Aunt Lou Ann, and the girl group and Miss Betsy and Miss Kate…Mama, you sure have a lot of sisters.”

You know, I do!  That’s just how God’s Family is. It doesn’t always make a lot of sense. We don’t always look alike. But the Family grows and expands in and through the seasons. And the Family doesn’t end, because one day we will all have one big Family party. Only at this party there will be no one left out, or isolated, or rejected. No one will be “not speaking” to each other.  Being separated by offenses and wounds will be impossible because we will have such joy in the One who called us all into His Family.

Let me give you the most beautiful picture of this. My friends the Morrells just came home with their third child from the Phillippines. All of them are children of promise.  All of them are children of designation, specifically chosen to be part of this family. Three grueling trips after years and years of prayer and preparation, and the anguish of the waiting.

Look at the picture. Look at their faces. Related completely, but not. Ordained together but not from the world’s perspective. Look at the future they have now been afforded and the very real risks these children have been rescued from.

All because God stirred a man and a woman who wanted to adopt to find each other and build a marriage and a home. All because God heard the prayers of the saints, an altogether “other” family has been born. All because God’s blood is stronger than any other bond, we rejoice in what He has done. God has a way of creating beautiful families. Rejoice this year in the “kinfolk” He has given to you.

You know what Mark said as he was traveling home with Abby in his arms? “I miss my boys. I can’t wait to get my family all together.”  I wonder, I just wonder, if God doesn’t say the same thing…

“I can’t wait to get My Family all together.”