So, what does a faith-filled family look like, anyway? Close your eyes and picture it. What do you see? Smiling parents and a couple of radiant children with perfect hair in unwrinkled clothes walking hand-in-hand into the doors of the church? Reality? Not in my world.
Sunday mornings in reality
Most Sunday mornings in our house we shout up the incremental countdown of when we are leaving the house. Our hope is that when they actually come down the stairs they at least have their teeth brushed and maybe even have combed their hair! No Easter dresses and suits here – we just make sure they’ve changed out of their pajamas and they have clothes on that are clean.
Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t hard to get our kids to church nowadays. They are just on their own timetable – one that doesn’t seem to involve a clock. They love our church and will actually encourage us if we are moving a bit slowly on Sunday mornings! It got me wondering why. Why are they so excited to go to this church? What is so special about it? Why are they genuinely disappointed on the rare occasion we can’t go? So, I started to look carefully at the people sitting in the rows around me. I watched them and how they interacted with other people – specifically, the members of their own family.
The Happiness Factor
There are many things I noticed about these people (more to come in future posts…), but the one that hit me the most is they are really happy! Not just put on a smiling face and make small-talk with people – honestly and genuinely happy. These families who are full of faith are people who found joy. These are the people I want to be like. They can look around and see something that many others might not even notice and find joy in it! And when they look at their kids or their spouse, you can see true happiness. I want that.
I know, people aren’t 100% happy 100% of the time. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to find joy in pretty much any situation? In a family, this can be tricky at times. Especially when I enter my son’s room to find clothes strewn all over the floor or see a glob of toothpaste in my daughter’s sink for the millionth time. I need to remind myself that these habits (or lack thereof) shouldn’t take away from how I see my children. Instead, I should do as Paul instructs:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. (Philippians 4:8, NIV)
I find it interesting that he used the word anything. When researching different translations, I found the words any or anything in this verse almost 90% of the time. To me, this means we are to look for any possible thing we can find that is good and focus on that. I know I get frustrated from time to time with my children and even my husband, but I need to remember this verse. I don’t need to come up with a list of reasons to be joyful at that very moment – just anything will do! Our minister recently said there is a blessed joy in full acceptance. If God can accept me and all my flaws, surely, I can overlook a few clothes on the floor and toothpaste in the sink.
My Focus
I’m still working on this one. It is a constant stream of thought in my head – think about such things… It is way too easy to focus on the mess or the problem right in front of me. But, I know if I want to be truly full of joy and for our family to be filled with faith, this needs to happen. We are definitely a work in progress, but the simple fact that we found this church with these people and can appreciate it (and even find joy in it!) tells me we are doing something right.
