Fighting for the family

Fighting for the family is one fight I'm willing to wage.  Aaron Tippin sings a song titled, "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for everything."  I think the song goes well with our upcoming series focusing on marriage, fatherhood, and parenting.

I'm not much of a fighter.  Really!!  But family is something worth fighting for--my family and yours!!  There are all types of families-- traditional, broken, blended, single, and separated.  Whatever type of family your are leading or living in, it's worth fighting for.  

God ordained family, beginning with marriage, as a place of protection and provision.  Did you know that the human child is the only mammal that can't take care of itself at the age of one?  Human beings need family!!  We are not designed to go it alone emotionally, physically, or spiritually.  The family was God's original planfor success for you and me!

I took a look at Maslow's Hierarchy of human needs.  Maslow suggested five levels of human needs beginning with Physiological and ending with Self-actualization.  According to Maslow, human beings can't start on the "higher level" of needs until the lower levels - physiological, safety, love / belonging, and esteem -- are met.  These needs apply to adults as well, but let's think about children for a minute.  

I would suggest that all of the lower level needs are met or unmet in the home by a person' s family.  The physical needs are things like breathing, food, water, sleep, and clothing.  These are the basic needs for existence.  As I said before human children are especially dependent.  

Next comes the need for safety and security.  We have a tendency towards order and consistency.  We tend toward security in body, employment, and resources.  The family provides the most basic form of security because a true family is there when everything else fails!  

Maslow's list jumps next to the level of "love / belonging" .  You guessed it--family wins again.  It's in our families that we learn the true definition of love and belonging.  On top of "love and belonging" comes "esteem".  In 20 years of working with people, I've people who have healthy self-esteem and too many people who don't think very good thoughts about themselves.  Most of it--good or bad--can be traced back to family.

I hope you are beginning to see how important your family really is to your life!  If you're leading a family, you have a very important role to play.  Over the next few weeks we are going to focus on marriage, fatherhood, and parenting.  If we want to reach our potential and "self-actualize" as Maslow calls it, then we need strong families.  

I was reading through a book from the 1980s entitled, Point Man.  It's a great book about a man leading his family.  Steve Farrar shares a story about the life of Jonathan Edwards who was born in 1703.  He and his wife had 11 children.  His descendants include more than 300 pastors, 120 professors, 110 attorneys, 60 authors, 30 judges, 14 served as presidents of universities, 3 served in congress, and one became vice president of the United States.  Edward's life is a great illustration of how you can impact your family tree.

All I'm trying to say is that your family is worth fighting for.  You may not be able to change the world, but you can change your family and impact your children for generations. 

Join us sunday as we get ready to fight for the family.  Tom Ragsdell

 

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