Family Effect ...

Monday, July 9, 2012. Kids are fantastic. They are creative. They are dynamic. They love to play, to run, to shout … They have ideas. They try things out. They come with all kinds of nonsense - which seem to be a source of creativity and inspiration to me!

Families have a lot to do …

Families are busy. If you have two or three or four kids, you need to manage your household. There is the cooking, the washing up, the cleaning of the house, cleaning of jeans and shirts and dresses. You cannot complain about boring time at home, when you have kids.

Families are often under pressure when it comes to income and finances. You need money for the kids. When they grow up, there are various holiday activities to organize and pay. Six weeks in the summer can be long, when parents have only three weeks off and kids want to use their time for various leisure activities.

As parents you are sometimes happy just to have an hour of free time - without interruption. Days are usually full with job and homework of the kids anyway - until nine or ten in the evenings. And the weekends are needed to do this or that in the house, for shopping, for meeting some friends. It is the family effect - a life which barely gives time to think about anything!

Faith for the family …

How do you live your faith when you are as busy as families tend to be in our time. How do you find time for prayer - more than just the “thank you, Lord” before lunch or dinner? How do you find time to read the biblical texts, to eat spiritual food and learn from him, learn from Jesus?

To be a family is fantastic. And it gives a lot of possibilities as well. If you share faith in a family, it can be a place to be supported, to receive ideas and backup for your life. Your family can be a shelter for your faith, when challenges come in your business life. It can be a shelter when you face illness or motivational problems.

But the family is also a mission. It is given to you to support it, to bring your faith alive and into it. Your true shelter should be the Lord himself, not the family. Your eternal shelter should be with him, in faith, in trust, in dedication. Then, you will have the strength and faith, to support your kids and your family. Then, you will be renewed every day according to his continuing promise! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts