The Hard Truth About Family

For me, family has mainly been a bitter experience. I'm not saying that I don't like my family or that I have something against my family....but when looking at the things that I struggle with the most, I can't help but realize that most of it was born out of a childhood full of turmoil.

When I look at other families, I am amazed and shocked by how much of a negative impact the family unit has on the members (specifically the children). From my perspective, the family has become the biggest negative impact in a childs' life (generally speaking). I see parents hold expectations for their children and make them feel guilty if they don't meet those expectations. I also see brothers and sisters violently fighting with each other. Where is the harmony? Where is the love for each other? Children aren't freed up to be honest with their parents, because they know they will get angry. It is one thing to not tolerate disobedience...it is quite another to put our children in a position where they don't feel like they can come to us about anything or be honest!

In my opinion, family should be the safest spot for a child to go to...and not the place where most of the pain and stress ends up coming from. Parents are getting divorced and remarried, which can make difficult situations in itself (especially if they have more children). Parents can't get along after the divorce, and the chance for tolerating each other is thrown out the window with words of hate and discord.

In a perfect world, this would not happen. However, sin causes pain and the family is not immune to this. In fact, it probably is the single most vulnerable aspect of how much of a ripple effect sin can play on a family.

Am I immune to the possibly of ruining my littler girls' life by the choices that I make on a daily basis? Absolutely not! Everyday I need to evaluate how I am doing or I risk falling into an infinite cycle of selfishness and deceit. The truth is never the problem. The hard part is confronting the truth and doing something about it! This is how we can save our families, and this is how I plan on doing it.