Family

FRI., FEB. 26, 1988, 7:20 PM
VILLAGE INN, DEARBORN

Next week your opportunity will be one of speaking to both spirits and minds about this institution of Mine, the family. You must give this more thought and concern… and, yes, I shall give you this help and even more before that speaking time. I have much to say about families, and I would be pleased if you would reflect some of this.

The family is the basic unit of human organization, ideally. It is good when three generations can be together and appreciate one another, even as the roles of husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother-in-law, son-in-law are far from the same. (I said three, but four is also possible… and equally desirable.) Family is the association of people by way of common genes and by way of marriage. The insistence, in the Bile story of My people and of Me, as Jesus, on the importance of gene lineage was part the custom of that culture and partly truth that should be upheld in these days.

Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, inheriting traits from him as well as following in his cultural line. Could it just as well been Esau to bring faith, the twelve tribes? Well, yes… and well, no. I picked Jacob for that paternal role but I also wanted a real biological heir to Abraham. Yet I could have gone with the oldest grandson… it just would have been a different story.

In like fashion you are to feel that special connection with the sons that are your actual heirs. Assume that, in addition to the genetic connection, each son selected you for some reason, and you were “in on this” also. You needn’t try to discern why. It is sufficient to assume that there is more to the father-son relationship than just genes and nurture. Only John Patrick openly accepts this.

The strength of your family still has its center in your relationship with Lenore. Continue to be aware of and appreciate this. Yours is not a perfect family, but it is uniquely yours, and this must make it special. Do all that you can to keep strong the bond with Lenore, and, hence, with each of your sons… and, hence, with their families.

Now this does not negate the reality and the power of other created family relationships. Friends and families overlap. You have some better friends than are in your actual family. Some of these, because of common interests and mutual attraction, become like another family. I also approve of this. As Jesus I had brothers and sisters, related, somewhat genetically, at least. Yet I selected My family for the years of My ministry, and these disciples and a few women were as or more important than My own kin.

You live in a culture with many kinds of families. It has certain advantages as a culture, but it isn’t the true ideal. For it also leaves some people without families, and this is usually a painful way to live. Do what you can to encourage people to maintain genetic family relationships and also develop and become part of other family interactions. One of the disadvantages of limiting births as a way of maintaining population controls rather than letting death rates balance with birth rates is this loss of gene family relationship… which must be balanced with incorporation into other family-like associations.

Family relations are not all pleasant, but they are valuable in stimulating spiritual growth. You wish the teenage years of your sons had been more pleasant and amiable. I tell you that you are a better spiritual person for having endured these “hard years.” And despite the difficulties, both you and Lenore helped your sons toward the manhood they now are enjoying. Deaths and divorces are vital parts of family life. It is not macabre to say that these can help families mature.