Abram said to Lot,
"Let there be no strife
between you and me, and
between your herders
between your herders
and my herders;
for we are kindred."
Genesis 13:8
"We are family!" cheers Abram to his nephew Lot. So why does he also have to say, "So ... let's not have any strife between us"?
Why? Because some of the deepest hurts in life come from family. (How sad.)
Families live very close together, giving lots of opportunities for friction. Family knows us best, giving lots of opportunties to learn which buttons to push. Furthermore, we love them most, meaning wounds from them cut deeper than wounds from mere acquaintences. It's probably too simplistic to imagine, then, that we can just say, "Let's have no stife between us," and have that magically happen.
That leads to what I believe is perhaps the most important function of family: It teaches us to forgive. We can't live that close to people for that long a period of time without learning to forgive!
Actually, we can refuse to forgive! It just makes us a fraction of the person we're designed to be.
Who do you need to forgive? Discover the freedom and the peace!
In Christ's Love,
a guy who's made others
learn to practice a lot of forgiveness
(in other words, I've caused
more than my fair share of friction,
and I appreciate their grace)
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