Daily Thought for Wednesday, September 28th

September 28, 2011

The Funnies – A Series

A Look At The Sunday Comics

And How They Might Be Applied To Our Spiritual Lives

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;”

1 Corinthians 1:27

“People only see what they are prepared to see.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Comic    “The Family Circus” by Bill Keane

Today’s Application:    The Importance of Family 

“Family – the we of me.” – Carson McCullers

Today’s Thought:

“Ohana means family - no one gets left behind, and no one is ever forgotten. ”  – Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois (from ‘Lilo & Stitch’)

Today’s Quote:

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” – Jan Howard

“Camera’s shrink us so Grandma can carry us around in her wallet.” – Dolly to Billy (from ‘The Family Circus’ by Bill Keane)

Today’s Question

Would you agree that: “Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts?” – Unknown

Today’s Bible Verses:            Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 3:20 & Romans 8:14-17

  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“The family.  We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing, coveting, hiding, borrowing, inflicting pain, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."  –  Erma Bombeck

(Dolly explains to her three brothers)

“Mommy is spelling things on the phone ‘cause Barfy’s (the family dog) listening.” – (from ‘The Family Circus’ by Bill Keane)

“I don’t care how poor a man is, if he has family, he is rich.” – Dan Wilcox & Thad Mumford (from ‘M*A*S*H’ episode entitled ‘Identity Crisis’)

“The Family Circus” debuted in February of 1960 and since then has chronicled the lives of Bil & Thelma (Thel), the Mom and Dad; their children, Billy (7), Dolly (5), Jeffy (3) and P.J. who was introduced as an infant and grew to about 18 months; their Grandma (Florence), who was Bil’s mom and their pets, Barky the Labrador, Kitty Cat the orange tabby and a stray mutt named Sam as they lived out their lives in Scottsdale Arizona.  These kids never aged but through the years they have demonstrated over and over how important family is.  Through the vacations, trials and tribulations of daily living and the just plain old day-to-day stuff that happens, they have shown love, patience, understanding, kindness and acceptance.

How important these things are to us as Christians.  Not only is every human being out there, by virtue of Adam and Eve a distant cousin of some degree: if they have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they by virtue of Jesus’ blood have been adopted into the Family of God, in which we are all brothers and sisters.

And as Christians we need our spiritual family as much as we need our natural families.

God created us for His pleasure, but He did not create us to be islands unto ourselves.  From the very beginning of creation, God intended for people to interact and share in each other’s lives.

Christopher Lasch said, “The family is a haven in a heartless world.”

We need each other to make it through and to accomplish the work and will of our Heavenly Father.

“You don’t choose your family.  They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” – Desmond Tutu

And while life, both in our natural and our spiritual families can often times seem to be like a circus – we need to remember patience, love, compassion and kindness will help us all make it through together.

Today’s Prayer:

Father, help me be the best family member I can be, both spiritually and naturally.