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Family Life in General

 

Christian Family

A popular book of a few years ago Jonathan Livingston Seagull extolled the ‘virtues of independence and individuality at any price. The seagull is a popular subject for photography and many people who vacation at the shore end up with some kind of souvenir bearing the picture of a seagull. It is easy to see why people like this figure. A seagull exults in freedom. When flying alone he thrusts his wings back with powerful strokes climbs higher and higher and then swoops down in majestic loops and circles.

In a flock though the seagull is a different bird. His majesty dissolves into in-fights and cruelty. Concepts of sharing and manners do not seem to exist among gulls. They are so fiercely competitive and jealous that if you tie a ribbon around the leg of a gull making him stand out from the rest you sentence him to death. The others in his flock will furiously attack him with claws and beaks hammering through feathers and flesh to draw blood. They’ll continue until he is a bloody heap.

If we must have a bird as a model for our society there is certainly a better choice. Consider the wild goose. The V-formation they use in flying enables them to fly with more ease and spped. The point position is the most difficult because of wind resistance so the geese rotate this position every few minutes. The easiest flight is experienced in the two rear sections of the formation and the stronger geese permit the young weak and older birds to occupy these positions. It is also probable that the constant honking encourages the weaker geese.

The seagull reaches us to break loose and fly alone but the wild goose teaches us to fly in a “family”. We can fly further with our Christian family than we could ever fly alone—and as we fly our efforts constantly help others in our family. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Leadership in Family

American men received a stinging insult from British psychologist Dr. Joshua Bierer who described them as a “bunch of weak-kneed lily-livered sissies.” In a previous survey made in 1964 he had judged women to be at fault and declared American women to be domineering. He explained his changed viewpoint:

Before I thought that the women wanted to rule the country. I changed that opinion. Women are compelled to take over not fighting to take over. I thought the men who attended with their wives some seminars I spoke at would shoot me for my remarks—but instead they all agreed with me. It’s still the fatherless society. The husbands are not husbands. All the women are crying out for a strong man and he’s just not there. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Family Trouble

Students involved in a research project at the University of Illinois called 2000 homes at random between midnight and 2 A.M. on a Friday night in the city of Chicago to see if parents knew where their children were.  In 75% of the homes called a child answered and didn't know where the parents were. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Spiritual Decline of Family

   To our forefathers our faith was an experience.

   To our fathers our faith was an inheritance.

   To us our faith is a convenience.

   To our children our faith is a nuisance.

 

Adoption

         In 1952 a probation officer in New York City tired to find an organization that would assist in the adoption of a twelve-year-old boy. Although the child had a religious background none of the major denominations would assist in his adoption. Said the officer later “His case had been reported to me because he had been truant. I tried for a year to find and agency that would care for this needy youngster. Neither Catholic Protestant nor Jewish institutions would take him because he came from a denomination they did not recognize. I could do nothing constructive for him.”

         If the principles of Christian love had prevailed in the Bronx in 1952 perhaps a good home could have been found for that young mixed-up lad. In fact providing a better environment in which to grow up might have changed history. For you see the boy was Lee Harvey Oswald.

 

Family Trouble

Students involved in a research project at the University of Illinois called 2000 homes at random between midnight and 2 A.M. on a Friday night in the city of Chicago to see if parents knew where their children were.  In 75% of the homes called a child answered and didn't know where the parents were.

 

Spiritual Decline of Family

            To our forefathers our faith was an experience.

            To our fathers our faith was an inheritance.

            To us our faith is a convenience.

            To our children our faith is a nuisance.

── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

FAMILY

Clovis Chappell a minister from a century back used to tell the story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail's pace of the other. Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship's cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race but burned their cargo.

God has entrusted cargo to us too: children spouses friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination. Yet when the program takes priority over people people often suffer. How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the number one slot? How many people never reach the destination because of the aggressiveness of a competitive captain?

In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado Word Publishing 1991 pp. 97-98.


Even that first famous Adams generation (children of 2nd president John Adams 1735-1826) had more than its share of black sheep. John and Abigail's eldest child Abigail married a wastrel and at her death left her children to their care. Son Charles married the sister of his spendthrift brother-in-law dissipated family funds died of alcoholism and left his widow to the care of his parents. Son Thomas Boylston also became an alcoholic again bequeathing his children to the care of the family. Though John Quincy (1767-1848) turned out well he and his unhappy wife Louisa hardly went unscathed. Thier first son was an alcoholic and committed suicide at the age of 31. Their next son was expelled from college failed in business and died of an alcohol-related illness. Only their youngest son Charles Francis (1807-86) reacted against the family pattern by his exemplary sobriety his prudence in business and fervent dedication to his wife and children. He spent years writing the biography and editing the words of his grandfather John Adams. But he concluded "The history of my family is not a pleasant one to remember. It is one of great triumphs in the world but of deep groans within one of extraordinary brilliancy and deep corroding mortification."

Charles Francis Adams grandson of 2nd President John Adams son of 6th president John Quincy Adams in U.S. News and World Report Dec 12 1988


It started with Rent-A-Wife a small Petaluma California company created by Karen Donovan to help clients decorate their homes balance checkbooks run errands etc. Donovan who launched her business through a small ad in the local newspaper is already thinking big after four months of operation. She wants to hire her father to initiate Rent-A-Husband and her two teens to start Rent-A-Family. "We can do what any family does " the newfangled entrepreneur joked. "We can come over and eat all the food turn on all the lights put handprints on the walls take showers and leave the towels on the floor. When clients are finished with Rent-A-Family they'll have to call Rent-A-Wife.

Campus Life October 1980.


In 1978 Thomas Hansen of Boulder Colorado sued his parents for $350 000 on grounds of "malpractice of parenting." Mom and Dad had botched his upbringing so badly he charged in his suit that he would need years of costly psychiatric treatment.

Unknown.


Statistics and Commentary

The evidence is convincing that the better our relationships are at home the more effective we are in our careers. If we're having difficulty with a loved one that difficulty will be translated into reduced performance on the job. In studying the millionaires in America (U.S. News and World Report) a picture of the "typical" millionaire is an individual who has worked eight to ten hours a day for thirty years and is still married to his or her high school or college sweetheart. A New York executive search firm in a study of 1365 corporate vice presidents discovered that 87% were still married to their one and only spouse and that 92% were raised in two-parent families. The evidence is overwhelming that the family is the strength and foundation of society. Strengthen your family ties and you'll enhance your opportunity to succeed.

Zig Ziglar in Homemade March 1989.


According to a study of more than 500 family counselors the following are the top traits of successful families:
*Communicating and listening *Affirming and supporting family members *Respecting one another *Developing a sense of trust *Sharing time and responsibility *Knowing right from wrong *Having rituals and traditions *Sharing a religious core *Respecting privacy.

Focus on the Family Bulletin December 1988 .


From a national survey of strong families conducted by the Human Development and Family Department at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln a profile of a strong family:

Appreciation. "Family members gave one another compliments and sincere demonstrations of approval. They tried to make the others feel appreciated and good about themselves."
Ability to Deal with Crises in a Positive Manner. "They were willing to take a bad situation see something positive in it and focus on that."
Time Together. "In all areas of their lives--meals work recreation--they structured their schedules to spend time together."
High Degree of Commitment. "Families promoted each person's happiness and welfare invested time and energy in each other and made family their number one priority."
Good Communication Patterns. "These families spent time talking with each other. They also listened well which shows respect."
High Degree of Religious Orientation. "Not all belonged to an organized church but they considered themselves highly religious." (1983)

Human Development and Family Department at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln.


Families in 2000 will average 1.81 children down from 1.84 today. Some 60 percent of kids born in the '80s will live for a time with one parent; 1 kid in 4 will live with a stepparent by age 16. One third of all households will be childless. . . Supporting a teenager still at home will cost $12 000 a year against $7 000 now. Kids who head to college in 2000 will need upwards of $100 000 for each bachelor's degree.

U.S. News and World Report Dec 25 1989.


Rudyard Kipling once wrote about families "all of us are we--and everyone else is they." A family shares things like dreams hopes possessions memories smiles frowns and gladness...A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect. A family is shelter from the storm a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild. No person is ever alone who is a member of a family.

Fingertip Facts.


Parents rate their inability to spend enough time with their children as the greatest threat to the family. In a survey conducted for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Corp. 35 percent pointed to time constraints as the most important reason for the decline in family values. Another 22 percent mentioned a lack of parental discipline. While 63 percent listed family as their greatest source of pleasure only 44 percent described the quality of family life in America as good or excellent. And only 34 percent expected it to be good or excellent by 1999. Despite their expressed desire for more family time two-thirds of those surveyed say they would probably accept a job that required more time away from home if it offered higher income or greater prestige.

Moody Monthly December 1989 p. 72.


Sociologist and historian Carle Zimmerman in his 1947 book Family and Civilization recorded his keen observations as he compared the disintegration of various cultures with the parallel decline of family life in those cultures. Eight specific patterns of domestic behavior typified the downward spiral of each culture Zimmerman studied.

*Marriage loses its sacredness...is frequently broken by divorce.
*Traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony is lost.
*Feminist movements abound.
*Increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general.
*Acceleration of juvenile delinquency promiscuity and rebellion.
*Refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities.
*Growing desire for and acceptance of adultery.
*Increasing interest in and spread of sexual perversions and sex-related crimes.

Swindoll The Quest For Character Multnomah p. 90.


Becoming good at the things that build inner confidence and calm takes practice -- and a dash of creativity! The following list might provide some cloudseeding for a brainstorm or two of your own. Have some fun with your family...and get ready for a good rest.

1. Pay off your credit cards.
2. Take off ten pounds or accept where you are without any more complaints.
3. Eat dinner together as a family for seven days in a row.
4. Take your wife on a dialogue date (no movie guys).
5. Read your kids a classic book (Twain's a good start).
6. Memorize the Twenty-third Psalm as a family.
7. Give each family member a hug for twenty-one days in a row (that's how long the experts say it takes to develop a habit). 

8. Pick a night of the week in which the television will remain unplugged.
9. Go out for a non-fast food dinner as a family.
10. Pray for your spouse and children every day.
11. Plan a vacation together.
12. Take a vacation together.
13. Read a chapter from the Bible every day until it becomes a habit.
14. Sit together as a family in church.
15. Surprise your teenage. Wash his car and fill up his gas tank.
16. Take an afternoon off from work; surprise your child by excusing him from school and taking him to a ball game.
17. Take a few hours one afternoon and go to the library as a family.
18. Take a walk as a family.
19. Write each member of your family a letter sharing why you value them.
20. Give your spouse a weekend getaway with a friend (same gender!) to a place of their choice.
21. Go camping as a family.
22. Go to bed early (one hour before your normal bedtime) every day for a week.
23. Take each of your children out to breakfast (individually) at least once a month for a year.
24. Turn down a promotion that would demand more time from your family than you can afford to give.
25. Religiously wear your seat belts.
26. Get a complete physical.
27. Exercise a little every day for a month.
28. Make sure you have adequate life insurance on both you and your spouse.
29. Write out information about finances wills and important business information that your spouse can use to keep things under control in the event of your death.
30. Make sure your family car is safe (tires brakes etc.) and get it tuned up.
31. Replace the batteries in your smoke alarm.
32. Put a security system in your house.
33. Attend the parent/teacher meetings of each child as a couple.
34. Help your kids with their homework.
35. Watch the kids on Saturday while your wife goes shopping (but if a friend calls don't say that you're "babysitting").
36. Explain to your spouse exactly what you do for a living.
37. Put together a picture puzzle. (One thousand pieces or more.)
38. Take time during the week to read a Bible story to your children and then discuss it with them.
39. Encourage each child to submit to you his most perplexing question and promise him that you'll either answer it or discuss it with him.
40. Finish fixing something around the house.
41. Tell your kids how you and your spouse met.
42. Tell your kids about your first date.
43. Sit down and write your parents a letter thanking them for a specific thing they did for you. (Don't forget to send it!)
44. Go on a shopping spree where you are absolutely committed to buying nothing.
45. Keep a prayer journal for a month. Keep track of the specific ways that God answers your needs.
46. Do some stargazing away from the city with your family. Help your children identify constellations and conclude the evening with prayer to the majestic God who created the heavens.
47. Treat your wife to a beauty make-over (facial manicure haircut etc.). I hear they really like this.
48. Give the kids an alternative to watching Saturday morning cartoons (breakfast at McDonald's garage sales the park chores etc.).
49. Ask your children each day what they did at school (what they learned who they ate lunch with etc.).
50. After you make your next major family decision take your child back through the process and teach him how you arrived at your decision.
51. Start saying to yourself "My car doesn't look so bad."
52. Call you wife or husband from work just to see how they're doing.
53. Compile a family tree and teach your children the history of their ancestors.
54. Walk through an old graveyard with your children.
55. Say no to at least one thing a day -- even if it's only a second piece of pie.
56. Write that letter to the network that broadcast the show you felt was inappropriate for prime-time viewing.
57. Turn off the lights and listen to a "praise" tape as you focus your thoughts on the Lord.
58. Write a note to your pastor praising him for something.
59. Take back all the books in your library that actually belong in someone else's library.
60. Give irritating drivers the right to pull in front of you without signaling and yelling at them.
61. Make every effort to not let the sun go down on your anger.
62. Accept legitimate criticism from your wife or a friend without reacting or defending yourself.
63. If your car has a Christian bumper sticker on in -- drive like it.
64. Do a Bible study on the "wise man" and the "fool" in Proverbs...and then apply what it takes to be wise to your life.
65. Make a list of people who have hurt your feelings over the past year...then check your list to see if you've forgiven them.
66. Make a decision to honor your parents even if they made a career out of dishonoring you.
67. Take your children to the dentist and doctor for your wife.
68. Play charades with your family but limit subjects to memories of the past.
69. Do the dishes for your wife.
70. Schedule yourself a free day to stay home with your family.
71. Get involved in a family project that serves or helps someone less fortunate.
72. As a family get involved in a recreational activity.
73. Send your wife flowers.
74. Spend an evening going through old pictures from family vacations.
75. Take a weekend once a year for you and your spouse to get away and renew your friendship.
76. Praise your spouse and children -- in their presence -- to someone else.
77. Discuss a world or national problem and ask your children for their opinion on it.
78. Wait up for your teenagers when they are out on dates.
79. Have a "quiet Saturday" (no television no radio no stereo...no kidding).
80. If your children are little spend an hour playing with them -- but let them determine the game.
81. Have your parents tell your children about life when they were young.
82. Give up soap operas.
83. De-clutter your house.
84. If you have a habit of watching late night television but have to be to work early every morning change your habit.
85. Don't accept unnecessary breakfast appointments.
86. Write missionaries regularly.
87. Go through your closets and give everything that you haven't worn in a year to a clothing relief organization.
88. Become a faithful and frequent visitor of your church's library.
89. Become a monthly supporter of a Third World child.
90. Keep mementos school projects awards etc. of each child in separate files. You'll appreciate these when they've left the nest.
91. Read the biography of a missionary.
92. Give regularly and faithfully to conscientious church endeavors.
93. Place with your will a letter to each family member telling why you were glad you got to share life with him or her.
94. Go through your old records and tapes and discard any of them that might be a bad testimony to your children.
95. Furnish a room (or a corner of a room) with comfortable chairs and declare it the "disagreement corner." When conflicts arise go to this corner and don't leave until it's resolved.
96. Give each child the freedom to pick his favorite dinner menu at least once a week.
97. Go over to a shut-in's house as a family and completely clean it and get the lawn work done.
98. Call an old friend from your past just to see how he or she is getting along.
99. Get a good friend to hold you accountable for a specific important need (Bible reading prayer spending time with your family losing a few pounds etc.).
100. Establish a budget.
101. Go to a Christian marriage enrichment seminar.

Tim Kimmel Little House on the Freeway pp. 219-223.


Humor

At the annual family-reunion picnic a young bride led her husband over to an old woman busily crocheting in a rocker. "Granny " she said touching the old woman's hand affectionately "this is my new husband." The woman eyed him critically for a long moment then asked abruptly "Do you desire children?" Startled by her bluntness the young man blushed and stammered "Well-uh-yes I do very much." "Well " she said looking scornfully at the large tribe gathered around the six picnic tables "try to control it!"

Colleen Pifer.


To prove his love for her he swam the deepest river crossed the widest desert and climbed the highest mountain. She divorced him. He was never home.

Rose Sands The Saturday Evening Post.


Who can ever forget Winston Churchill's immortal words: "We shall fight on the beaches we shall fight on the landing grounds we shall fight in the fields and in the streets we shall fight in the hills." It sounds exactly like our family vacation.

Robert Orben.


An exhaustive study shows that no woman has ever shot her husband while he was doing the dishes.

Earl Wilson.


A woman was at home doing some cleaning when the telephone rang. In going to answer it she tripped on a scatter rug and grabbing for something to hold onto seized the telephone table. It fell over with a crash jarring receiver off the hook. As it fell it hit the family dog who leaped up howling and barking. The woman's three-year-old son startled by this noise broke into loud screams. The woman mumbled some colorful words. She finally managed to pick up the receiver and lift it to her ear just in time to hear her husband's voice on the other end say "Nobody's said hello yet but I'm positive I have the right number."

James Dent Charleston W.Va. Gazette.


The man who seldom finds himself in hot water is the one with a wife several daughters and one bathroom.

Unknown.

 

GENERATION GAP

A convenience food today is chicken already cooked. In grandmother's time it was a chicken she didn't have to kill personally.

Bill Vaughan NANA.


It used to be if you didn't feel well you went to a doctor. These days you have to know why you don't feel well--in order to know what kind of a doctor to go to.

Paul Harwitz in the Wall Street Journal.

 

GRANDPARENTS

An 8-year-old wrote "A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own so she likes other people's boys and girls. Grandmas don't have anything to do except be there. If they take us for walks they slow down past pretty leaves and caterpillars. They never say 'Hurry up.' Usually they are fat but not too fat to tie shoes. They wear glasses and sometimes they can take their teeth out. They can answer questions like why dogs hate cats and why God isn't married. They don't talk like visitors do which is hard to understand. When they read to us they don't skip words or mind if it is the same story again. Everybody should try to have a grandma especially if you don't have television because grandmas are the only grownups who always have time.

Unknown.


Statistics and Research

Now there's evidence based on interviews with children and grandparents that children need their grandparents and vice-versa. The study shows that the bond between grandparents and grandchildren is second in emotional power and influence only to the relationship between parents and children. Grandparents affect the lives of their grandchildren for good or ill simply because they exist. Unfortunately a lot of grandparents ignore the fact to the emotional deprivation of the young. Of the children studied only five percent reported close regular contact with at least one grandparent. The vast majority see their grandparents only infrequently not because they live too far away but because the grandparents have chose to remain emotionally distant. These children appear to be hurt angry and very perceptive about their grandparents. One of them said "I'm just a charm on grandma's bracelet." Positive roles that grandparents play are caretaker storyteller family historian mentor wizard confidant negotiator between child and parent and model for the child's own old age. When a child has a strong emotional tie to a grandparent he enjoys a kind of immunity--he doesn't have to perform for grandparents the way he must for his parents peers and teacher. The love of grandparents comes with no behavioral strings attached. The emotional conflicts that often occur naturally between children and parents do not exist between grandparents and grandchildren.

Youthletter September 1981.