As my youngest staggered into my room the other morning and assumed her usual snuggle position on my lap, I began thinking about all the little traditions that make a family, a family. There are so many little things that tie us together, from the way my daughter has always laid a certain direction for her snuggles, to where each of us sits at the dinner table.
When we talk about family traditions, most of us think about how our family celebrates holidays and other special days of the year. While those are nice, they are not really what holds us together day to day. It is the much smaller things, just like all the little knots holding a tied-quilt together.
Even though people in a family may share a similar history or genetics, they usually have very different personalities. Just as a quilt would be boring with only one color of fabric, a family would be boring if everyone was the same. God designs each of our families with the personalities He wants in them. Some of us may be solid color quilt blocks and some of us like the quilt above, may be zebra striped! When we are bonded together with all of our unique gifts and quirks, we turn into something more than we can be on our own.
It is the same with our larger family of brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all unique and special on our own, but when we become unified through the ties of love that Jesus taught, we become so much more. This summer my church has been going through the book of Colossians. In chapter three, Paul tells us specifically how to live together as the family of God. He uses the image of our bodies instead of a quilt, but the idea is the same. We have one body, but many different members. In verses twelve through seventeen, he lists out all of the “ties” that can bind us together in unity. He also says to put on love over all of these. Using the image of the quilt again, I picture the love that he is talking about as the warmth that a well-made quilt provides.
I am grateful for all the little ways my family is tied together from the quirky: we have to use the same spoon to stir the cheese into the macaroni noodles every time; to the sweet: my younger children sound like the Waltons going to bed. I pray that as the larger family of God, we can continue to work toward that bond of unity by tying ourselves together with all the virtues listed in Colossians and covering them all over with love.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14
Leave a Reply