Finding Family

I stare at a blank computer screen, internally wrestling with the Lord. I’m not sure why this week I’m finding it so difficult to write about family.  It's something I’m extremely passionate about – I love my immediate family, though they live thousands of miles away from me. But can I be honest? 

I’m drawing a blank. And I can’t pilfer stories from my own family because I don’t have one. I’m 31 and single, and I suppose you could say I’m  “between families” at the moment.

I know what I should say, as a single.  I know the message my life has taught me – the importance of building community and reaching out to those who need “family” and forging my own. But, tonight, the message is a little tiresome to me. It’s as if the same song has been playing continuously for over ten years and I’m just ready for someone to change the station.

As I pray about my lackluster heart, I picture myself sitting on a small wooden bridge over a small creek.  I’m dangling my legs, waiting and weary, wondering if God might give me insight into a new message for my post.  I see Jesus calmly and quietly walk to the bridge and sit down beside me.  He doesn’t say a thing, just turns to me and smiles, dangling His feet over the edge of the bridge. 

He doesn’t have to say a thing.  All He needed to speak I heard when He simply sat down next to me. 

There we sit.  Two of us, waiting for a wedding and searching for a family.  Two of us knowing the importance of finding family with those God places around us, in letting them be a part of our journey and letting us be a part of theirs.  There we sit, dangling our feet, two of us, as single as single can be. 

And I find I’m in good company. 

To my single friends out there, young and old, yes, hear the underlying message of the importance of fostering family with the people around you both singles and families, but know it’s okay to have a family appointment with the Son and just quietly remember, He understands, He’s been there, and He gets it.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses..” Hebrews 4:15