Generations

The blue van pulled into the driveway bringing my husband home along with my 6 year old son. They were returning from dropping my three year old grandson Gabriel off at his house. The "boys" had been out for lunch together at the Hometown Cafe. Hot dogs, french fries, and treats had been consumed by the little guys as well as "a small Pepsi that we always have with hot dogs."

"Just think," I said to my young son, "you were a son and an uncle at that lunch. Gabriel got to be a nephew and a grandson. And Daddy was a father and a grandpa! Everyone there got to be two things!" (Sorry for the juvenile speech - but he got it!)

From my chair inside the house I contemplated the wonder of generations extending families through the ages. "We are an American family." But perhaps not a usual one in this day - we possess an uncle that is a playmate with his nephew, aunts who are not much older, and a grandpa who is father to those playmates.

What a privilege my little guy has. He ingenuously claims his two brothers-in-law as brothers without batting a eye (even though they are both old enough to be his father) and has proudly owned the title of uncle since he was three. His sisters were pretty young aunts as well.

Heritage is a God-thing. It is a picture of His love and plan for mankind. Relationships that are immutable, abiding, and just plain fixed must have been His invention. Can you undo kinship? You may deny it, but you cannot undo it. Your bond is genetically transmitted, recorded in DNA chains. Family is such a clear reflection of His everlasting faithfulness and love. He desires covenantal relationships.

But even so, these are temporal bonds. For those who have believed, there is a greater kinship than all of these. The family of God transcends this realm. God the Father, Christ the Son, and us His adopted heirs. Brothers and sisters for eternity. Guess we should begin now to love each other. After all, we are family - it's in our spiritual DNA.