Healthy Families

Two generations past most Americans belonged to healthy families.  Generations of families lived in the same home in many cases, and in others lived close together.  Grandparents, aunts, and uncles were available, loved, trusted, and experienced wholesome family relationships from the youngest to the oldest.  Moms had plenty of help with babies and children grew up with input from a myriad of family members.  An extended family existed in the church, where generations worshiped together on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.  Children had that influence as well.  We were connected.  Families were strong and healthy.

Pictured above is my brother-in-law Ken Lehman, from Arlington, VA, visiting for a day in sunny Southern California with his family.  His wife Joanie and daughter Emma were welcomed into our home with joy and delight.  Left, Bristol plays with Brody in our back yard.  Bristol and Brody are cousins, children of my sons Jeremy and Jeff.  We spent the day catching up, swapping stories, enjoying our family connection.  With email, Facebook, Skype, Words with Friends, cell phones, etc. we all stay pretty closely connected, even though Ken and Joanie live in Arlington.

Eldon joined his older sister and cousin Brody in the backyard after his nap.  Grandma Cathy, the loveliest woman in the entire world, enjoys her grandchildren.  We both do.  Jeremy and Jeff usually spend Saturday at our house.  We eat together, catch up on all the news, go to church, and enjoy a few hours of leisure afterwards.  (We've broken with tradition in that we attend church on Saturday evening!)  Cathy and I occasionally keep one or two grandkids overnight to give mom and dad a break.  Our families are closely connected and we know that we can depend upon one another in an emergency and work to keep our connection close and healthy.

The lovely Tawny, Savanna, and Cathy watch over the children in the back yard.  Even the dogs get along, most of the time.  Jeremy often brings his three dogs down if they are staying over night.  Ollie Bear and Josh are in the background there.  Family is precious.  I love my daughters-in-law as I love my own daughter Serena.  Serena is in Maryland, staying with family there as she beings her teaching career.  She is sorely missed.  All of our family on the East Coast is missed.  Yet our connections are strong.  By the grace of a loving God we are a healthy family unit.

Pictured to the right is the Bennett part of the family.  My sons Jeremy and Jeff, daughter Serena, daughters-in-law Savanna and Tawny, grandchildren Bristol, Eldon, and Brody.  Eldon is named after Cathy's father, Eldon Lehman, a man of deep and abiding faith in God, a true patriarch in our family, now with his lovely wife Anna Mary in heaven.  Both of them were active in keeping our family strong, together, and healthy.  I have tried to emulate Dad in that with my own family.

Yes, you knew I would eventually get a picture of turtles in the picture.  Three of these turtles belong to my grandchildren, and the other to me.  I care for all of them for the family.  To hear my granddaughter say "turtle" is a delight, and she always wants to go out and see the turtles.  So do Eldon and Brody.  Turtles don't have families.  They can be solitary or social, and it doesn't seem to matter to them.  Sometimes I pity them, because they will never know the joy of a healthy family.  Unfortunately, many people in our country today have never known this experience!

Many of the families I see daily are like this one, cut off from the rest of their family, alone, cast adrift, in a world of want and need.  I very much wish the people of my church could see what I see daily.  To many of these lonely tiny family units the church could become an extended family, offering a wholesome, safe, loving and nurturing bunch of brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  It's not the same as the real thing, of course, but a very real help.

Over the last two generations America has moved away from a strong and unified family.  Small family units are isolated from the rest of the family, burning bridges connecting them to their families, leaving behind the base, or foundation, that could be their first haven for help.  Think about it.  How strong is your family?  Do you appreciate them, and let them know how much you appreciate them?  As our country slowly erodes from within we will find that our families are very important.

What makes our family strong?  Honestly it is our faith in Christ.  Most of us follow Jesus.  For that reason He blesses our family and increases our love for one another.  Think about that, my friend.