From January 5th until Easter (April 12th), Quest is going to boldly step into the exciting and challenging arena of Marriage and Family. Thirty years ago, this topic would never have conjured up much controversy. However, we live in a new and unsettled world when it comes to these issues. We can find ourselves caught up in the swirling chaos of debate over the ‘tsunamic’ impact of a culture that has untethered itself from a Judeo-Christian understanding of how marriage and family is defined and lived out.
Above and beyond the undreamed of dynamics that fill our social media venues we all face the practical and daily demands that come with marriage and family. While we all have a sense of the potential beauty and blessings that come with close, supportive and attaching relationships that marriage and family are supposed to represent, we also face the disappointing realty that they often fall short of our dreams and desires. We ache for the ‘Disneyland’ script when the tender kiss of Prince Charming breathes new life into Sleeping Beauty and they live happily ever after. We feel cheated when ‘he’ is not all we wanted or ’she’ is not quite what we hoped for. When on the mornings after the wedding each wakes up with bad breath, it seems inappropriate. When the month after that, bills need to be paid from a back account that is inadequate, we somehow think the narrative should be better. Then that evening, we notice the toilet needs to be cleaned and we wonder why he or she did not do it rather than leaving it for me!!!!!
What about those kids? It all looked pretty good until they learned to walk and somehow they learned how to say ‘NO’. Who ever suggested that throwing a tantrum was appropriate is out of their mind!!!! They say the darnedest things, followed up by the dumbest things. Exercising their will (for both good and bad) can drive a parent either crazy or to their knees. Slowly but surely, they become their own person and become ‘separate’ from us, making their own decisions and paying their own consequences.
Not long after that, we begin to parent our parents as they enter into a season of less separateness due to the reality of the golden years and all that comes with those.
It can be a circus… a family circus… marriage and family has never been easy and 2020 will not be an exception, but there is hope to be had in the guidelines of God’s heart and plan. We will see if we can find some of His heart and His plans for our marriages and families in the next several months.
Looking forward to the Quest for His work among us,
Kevin