Gratitude for Family – Prayerful Tuesday

¹⁶But Ruth said,
‘Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God. 
¹⁷ Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!’
— Ruth 1:16-17

I have been blessed in the last 16 years to have had some lovely people in my life.  Most of them are not related to be by blood. I seem to make ‘family’ from the people I meet rather than from people I am related to. You see most of my closest blood relatives have passed but regardless of that I was never close to them.  They didn’t understand who I was or what I was.  In my eyes they were often quarrelsome and petty, easily offended and really only wanted me around if I could do something for them. The very idea of simply enjoying each other’s company just for the fun of it never entered their minds. At least that is how I perceived fit.  It is always possible that I was just overly picky.

So I created my own family groups from people I enjoyed being around and who enjoyed being around me.  Most of the time it was a small group but over the last 16 years my ability to create family has reached new heights.  Now I have a very large extended ‘family’ made up of a few cousins I’ve reconnected with, my husband’s family, and those who I have been adopted, and those who have adopted me. It is a rather happy group of people who enjoy each other’s company, even if we don’t always agree on politics or religion or liking chocolate (actually our disagreements are what is the most fun). As a result I am blessed by friendships that go much deeper than being just a friend.  These are people who when I need them they are there, and when they need me I am there for them.

I have never believed the people we meet and interact with in our lives are the result of a coincidence.  No, I believe we are drawn to those who the Spirit knows we need, or who need us, at just the right time. The people who are the most important to us, whether they are relatives or not, are often the ones the Spirit uses to speak to us or provide us with that essential ingredient of life, love.

The lovely people in the above photo are my husband John 2 of his sons, 4 grandchildren and a daughter-in-law what are closer to me as family than most, not all because I do love my newly discovered cousins, of the group I was born into.  They have been there when I am ill, at the celebration of  life’s grand markers, and when I just need someone to talk to. God blessed me with their presence and I am grateful for each of them, they bring joy into my heart.  As Ruth says to Naomi “where [they] go, I will go.”

Your prayer this week is to offer prayers of gratitude for those in your life who have blessed you with their presence.  They may be a relative, or they may be good friends but all are blessing in your life.

My prayer, God I am grateful for the people in my life who I call family.  You, Great Spirit, have blessed my life with compassionate, joyful, generous of heart people, I thank you for each and every one of them. Amen

Ruth Jewell, ©February 16, 2015