Family - Creating in Faith

Growing up in a family as the middle child of 3 had its ups and downs.  Sometimes it felt that you were always too young to do what your older sister was doing but always too old be included in my younger brothers activities.  As we have grown up the age gap seemed to decrease. 
I remember my brother having a birthday party every year from the age of 5 to around 11 years.  For me though, being born in August people were always on holiday so I wouldn’t get to organize anything. My sister would organize his parties and we would all help out with the games, it was lovely to see my brothers little friends running around him (he was a popular young man!) and mom would cook and make these amazing birthday cakes.  That was often one of the highlights, mums cooking - she would make a cake for each of us for birthdays and every other celebration and the tradition only stopped when she started to get ill, but each of us has tried to embrace one of the traditions within our familiesAs I have grown older with a family of my own the idea of the traditional family has changed and while you might not be blood related to them whether they are step family or adopted you love them just the same.  You can find in many different communities or groups that you join people who you just 'click with' and you get on as if you have known each other for life.  There is a connection, a bond, you might not be blood related but support and encourage each other as if you were.
As a Christian, the members of the church are my family and we are called to support and encourage one another.  It can sometimes seem challenging where the different backgrounds and experiences produces different ways of looking at things.  But we are all here because of the grace of God and we are called to do for others as we would do for ourselves, we have to question just how much we love ourselves and is that passed on or do we carry too much baggage? 
When we grow up in a nurturing and supportive environment as children we can in turn create that supportive environment in our own homes and more importantly in our communities recognising the connection that we have with each other in our communities and further afield around the world.  We might not be blood relation but our dreams and goals requires the participation of someone somewhere who connects with us enough to play a role in our success. 
What does the thought of family stir up for you, and how have we redefined the traditional sense of family to fit into our lives today?

...with God all things are possible.. Mark 10:27 
Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because he always lives to intercede for them....Hebrews 7:25
She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family  and portions for her female servants Proverbs 31:15
Come join the group -Creating in Faith, show us how you will be incorporating the words and scriptures and reflections in your art this week.  Step out and be a blessing and you will also be blessed!