Would you believe that I'm still getting up at 2am and have been to the gym every day this week!!! In addition to burning calories on the treadmill, I try to mind my caloric intake, although my daughter offered me a Snickers bar this morning. I thought it would be rude if I didn't take it, so I did - and promptly ate it!!!! The beauty of diets - and Christianity - is that once you fall off the wagon, you repent and you move forward.
I was talking to my mother today about a cousin of mine. Her son is going through a depression about a break-up with his girlfriend, so she asked me to pray for him. We began on the topic of prayer and she told me that she had found a stack of books in her library on the subject. I mentioned to her that I had taken a class at church on prayer and my text was a pretty good book. It was by Dr. Myles Monroe. She said that that's who her book was written by. It turns out that we have the same book!!! We both marveled at how God orchestrated that. I suggested to her that God wants us to pray for each other. There is power in corporate prayer!!!
Some time ago, she suggested creating a phone book of all of our relatives to help us keep in touch with each other. I mentioned supplementing that with a family newsletter of sorts that lists all births, deaths, and especially prayer requests. God's word says in Matthew 18:20 (NIV) "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." How much more effective would our prayers be if we touched and agreed with someone else for that thing that we are seeking?
Ours is a huge family and we have family reunions every year, but honestly, I only see most of these people at the reunion - if I go. I want to know how my cousin that I spent my childhood summers with is doing. I want to know if my favorite aunt has become a grandmother again. Again, as we strive to walk in Jesus' footsteps, we need to understand and appreciate his concern for family. Remember as he was dying on the cross, one of the last things he did was make sure that His mother would be taken care of (John 19:25-27 NIV). My father always says that God put families together for a reason. We are to pray for each other and share our time, resources, and money to ensure that one doesn't have too much while another has too little. As we approach a new year, consider adding this to your list of resolutions - call your grandmother more often, buy a package of diapers for your young cousin who just had a baby, try to touch each member of your family with the touch of Christ in the upcoming year. Can you imagine what the world would be like if each of us spent more time cultivating our own families??? We all want peace, joy, and kindness in the world, but you know what????? It all starts at home:)