Mark 3:35
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.
A couple of nights ago at bedtime, my six year old asked me to name everyone in our family. I went down the list of essentials and he chimed in, helping name names. He added his pseudo-grandparents- our friends who we sit with at church, celebrate holidays with and venture to Orlando with for Disney weekends. They are younger than my parents but still old enough to be my parents.
Do you have adopted family like this? Sometimes we're closer to these non-relatives than our actual relatives because of proximity or a strained relationship. God knows who and what we need and he sends us gifts in the form of these people. It makes us realize that there are different kinds of "family."
The biggest family we are part of is the family of God. Just this past Sunday at church there was a baptism of twin girls. As Fr. Tapp, our pastor initiated them into the Church, he called them "sister." To see an adult man him look at a tiny infant and call her, "sister" made me pause. But that's what those baby girls are, our sisters. The family of God goes beyond our own boundaries. Let's celebrate it today by loving each other and thanking God for those with whom we are united by blood, our pseudo-families and the family created by the body of Christ.
