Loving your family is a no-brainer, but sometimes we forget the importance of making time for family. We get into our activities and schedules and we forget to slow down, to wholeheartedly enjoy the people around us and connect with them!
Start children off on the way they should go,
Proverbs 22:6
and even when they are old they will not turn from it
We don’t mean to do that, it isn’t intentional but it happens. We need to remind ourselves that God gave us families not as something to check off as a completed life task but as something to enjoy! And when we make time for our family, we are embracing God’s gifts.
Family Unit
The family unit is meant to be the base for support, encouragement and love. It’s where we turn to share our joys and triumphs as well as our struggles and hardships.
It doesn’t work if we don’t know our family! If we haven’t made connections with the people we love, how can they support us?
When we make time for our families, when we show our children how important it is to enjoy each other’s company, they learn how loved they are! They see how their parents (and grandparents/aunts/uncles/friends) interact with one another. They get to witness love and affection!
Take Time for Family
This starts with the parents. Building those personal relationships has to come from Mom and Dad. As kids get older they maybe can initiate quality family time, but if they haven’t learned how to do it, then it is more difficult.
As Proverbs 22:6 says, we have to start children off the way they should go. If we want our children to go out and love others, go out and have strong families of their own, we need to start it in our own homes!
We learn about making these bonds from God. He instructs us to take time for Him and to follow His example.
We know that our relationship with God is strengthened when we draw close to Him, so this is true with our kids (and spouses and siblings and parents!) It means intentionally doing things they enjoy and making them feel loved.
This might mean making a phone call (or a FaceTime call) to those who are far away. Maybe it is writing an honest-to-goodness letter and sending it by snail mail! Or sending flowers.
These small actions are a reminder of your love for someone and that you took time for them.
And for the people in your household, actively seek to connect with them. Do the things they enjoy. Whether it’s playing a game of chase around your living room or snuggling up for a movie. To take time, sometimes you have to make time!
Enjoy Your Loved Ones
Taking time for family is important. it strengthens the connection between people and creates a lifelong bond. God wants us to live in harmony with one-another and draw support from the family He has given us.
Whether it is your immediate family, church-family or you have created a family in the stage of life you are in, make connections with those people! Let them know how grateful you are to have them in your life.
Loved-ones can be blood relative or not, they can be in your home or on the other side of the country, wherever and whoever they are, enjoy the people God has provided for you! Make time for them, to show them how much you care and build them up so they have the confidence to go out and love others!
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