F is for Family
Family is the group of people you see when you peek through your childhood windows. It’s our link to the past. It’s where our story begins.
Whether we like or not we are put into these familiar tribes that are meant to be sacred relationships, yet we’re jerks to each other. Then we get all self-righteous about it. Then you go months, if not years, not talking. Sometimes you can’t even be in the same room. The gap keeps getting bigger and bigger and all over what? Do you even remember? I think it’s a pretty relatable story. No family is immune to these conflicts.
Some broken relationships will stay estranged for obvious reasons, but most family squabbles are petty and about uncontrolled anger and judgment. Conflicts that are due to pride and intolerance.
Don’t spend your last penny on a grudge. Families should stick together and stand by each other even when our differences may launch us in opposite directions.
Families seem to be modelling the rest of the world which is full of tension and strife. We must guard against anger strongholds, so our careless words don’t slip out and hurt people. Anger never produces good fruit. It’s an emotion that can hijack you.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an American author and poet wrote this quote:
“There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found while journeying east and west. The only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, we please the fleeting guest, and deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best.”
Love and acceptance should drive our family relationships. It doesn’t mean that circumstances aren’t difficult but keeping our own anger in check will prevent any type of resentment from building a wall between you and your other family members. It’s futile to insist on our own way or expect everyone to fall in line. Expectations are future resentments.
If you’re waiting for the other person to make the first move toward reconciliation, you’re wrong, even if you’re right. Grudges are heavy and hard to put down. Some people never experience the joy of surrender. They nurse those wounds until the day they die. Who has that kind of time?
Am I the Only One?
Whether we like or not we are put into these familiar tribes that are meant to be sacred relationships, yet we’re jerks to each other. Then we get all self-righteous about it. Then you go months, if not years, not talking. Sometimes you can’t even be in the same room. The gap keeps getting bigger and bigger and all over what? Do you even remember? I think it’s a pretty relatable story. No family is immune to these conflicts.
Some broken relationships will stay estranged for obvious reasons, but most family squabbles are petty and about uncontrolled anger and judgment. Conflicts that are due to pride and intolerance.
Don’t spend your last penny on a grudge. Families should stick together and stand by each other even when our differences may launch us in opposite directions.
Families seem to be modelling the rest of the world which is full of tension and strife. We must guard against anger strongholds, so our careless words don’t slip out and hurt people. Anger never produces good fruit. It’s an emotion that can hijack you.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an American author and poet wrote this quote:
“There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found while journeying east and west. The only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, we please the fleeting guest, and deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best.”
Love and acceptance should drive our family relationships. It doesn’t mean that circumstances aren’t difficult but keeping our own anger in check will prevent any type of resentment from building a wall between you and your other family members. It’s futile to insist on our own way or expect everyone to fall in line. Expectations are future resentments.
If you’re waiting for the other person to make the first move toward reconciliation, you’re wrong, even if you’re right. Grudges are heavy and hard to put down. Some people never experience the joy of surrender. They nurse those wounds until the day they die. Who has that kind of time?
Am I the Only One?
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