We are all in this together......

On the news in the last few weeks there has been much ado about families starting to live together because of hard economic times.  Those of you who know me know that we have been living with Scott's mom for 2 1/2 years.  Although this started as a "stop point" for us, for several reasons we have stayed together.  I find it fascinating that the news media find this a phenomenon.  Really?  Up until maybe forty years ago, families did this for centuries.  We have become, in my opinion, too independent if we cannot see that family must stick together. 

Families used to rely on each other for all kinds of things, the least of which was sharing a home together.  Maybe the reason we have little patience with other people is because we have not mastered control by living with our families.  We tend to have more patience with people we are living with.  If, because of circumstances, we live with our family, all the things that drive us crazy about them would have to be dealt with, with diplomacy.  We cannot just leave and not see them for a couple of months until it all blows over.  Living together means the little stuff cannot bother us.  You know, "Don't sweat the small stuff" and all that.  

We have become, as an independent nation of everyone on their own, too picky.  A little too, "my way or the highway".  If you are living as a family together, there is no highway, you have to deal with it.  Family, sometimes in today's culture, has become the people we see on holidays and little else.  God has never meant for us to do our lives alone.  We are supposed to commune together and live with each other and learn our life lessons from our elders.  It works, if we can check our egos at the door.

So instead of regretting family, we should embrace our family.  Family means no one gets left behind.  Stick together.  We never know when God may take us out of our comfort zone and put us where we need to be to learn to rely solely on Him and not so much on our own understanding.  Embrace family, you only get one.

God bless you and yours.