Defining the true meaning of what I call family....
Who does your mind venture off to when you think of the word family?
" Now faith, hope, and love remain --- these three things and the greatest of these is love"~ I Corinthians 13:13.....
When we are children, we are brought to think of family as those who are our blood-related relatives. Some like myself, were brought up around only our parents and siblings. Visits to our grandparents, aunts. uncles or cousin's homes consisted of getting on an airplane if I wanted to spend quality time with them. Some are brought up with their thinking in a box, that no one of any other race, color or creed can be considered your family. The older I got the more I questioned what family really meant to me.
When I looked around, I saw so many faces of people I did not know and never met, and it seemed odd that I could spark a conversation with stranger and at times feel a connection more than I felt with some of my close loved ones. Why is this I thought? You see biologically I understood that family were those who genetically were connected to me, but if we believe in God's word then aren't we all family? Are we not all connected? Did we not all start from the same two people when God created the heavens and the earth?
The more I thought about this concept, the more it plagued my spirit. You see, when I walk down the street or drive in my car and I see a homeless person, it bothers me. If I see a child that is about to fall down, if I'm able, I will try to run to their rescue. If a friend needs an ear and my perspective on an issue or just someone to listen, I want to lend it. If I see an adult or child getting bullied that's disabled, I have no tolerance for this behavior. It seems to me that many of us have lost our way.
You see my belief is that God meant for all of us to try and help one another because we are all connected to each other somewhere down the line. All of our lives are of importance in God's eyes and no one is better than the next man. We all play our part in this collision of collected consciousness. We are all family, and a family shows each other love. We may not always agree with each other, we may not even like each other all the time, but at the end of the day we still love each other. We are supposed to build each other up, lend a helping hand or just an ear or shoulder if need be from time to time. And deep down inside, if we truly take the time look, I believe there is small piece of each other everyone that we meet.
We have to take the mentality of selfish and turn into being selfless if we want to start to see a change in the world around us. If you truly take the time to look at the bigger picture and see outside of the box, you will see that we are all one big family. Do your part because if no one else is watching, God always is.