It seems like most families have some kind of family get together every summer. I just saw on Facebook where some friends of ours went with their family to Cozumel. I know another fairly large family that is taking a cruise later this year. Paula’s mom’s side of the family is pretty large, and this past weekend they were at a youth camp in New Mexico. I think there were about one hundred sixty five people there. We did not make that one however because my family got together in Abilene at my big sister’s house. 

Our reunion is just the Homer Smith family. Mom and Dad have three kids. I am in the middle of the sisters, one four years older and one five years younger. We have now grown to a family of thirty-three people, which includes six grandchildren, and thirteen great grandchildren for mom and dad. We are a blessed family. 

If your family is like ours, you may be experiencing some growing pains. It’s nothing new, and it’s nothing that should not be expected. As families grow the locations they attend change. A family needs to consider the little ones, and the kinds of activities that will keep them busy. A family needs to consider cost. Not everyone is flush with money. A family as it grows, outgrows the locations it has used in the past. For a few years we met at Brownwood Lake and we all fit in two singlewide mobile homes. Once the first four great grand kids were in their two’s a new crop of babies was on the way and it was time to move to a larger place. 

For the last four years we have met at my sister’s home in Abilene. It’s not a big house. I think it’s around 2,200 sq/ft, but the back yard is very large, so we have been putting up tents for each family. Evon and Don added a small pool a few years ago, and the kids love being in it every day, for all day. However, we now have a couple of more babies in bunch, and word is there are at least two couples planning to have even more. So, it’s time to move again. We had our family meeting yesterday after worship to discuss the possibilities for next year. It was sad to have to talk about not going back to Abilene, but as I said before, as families grow, changes come. 

Here’s the thing friends, I don’t know where we will get together next year. I know it will be centrally located for everyone. I know it will be as inexpensive as possible. If we go to a lake there will be skiing. If there is a golf course nearby there will be golf played. There will be four babies who have learned to walk since we left each other yesterday, and that original group of four two year olds will all be eight years old. The Lord willing Dad will have just turned eighty years old when we meet next year, and the Lord willing, there will be two more babies either there, or at least on the way. We are a blessed family.  

Folks, here is the reason I’m telling you all of this. You also have families that are changing. Families grow. Families mature. Families suffer losses. And with each birth, or death, or each uneventful year, the family changes just a little. You know, it’s my personal experience that relationships change within the family. A close pair may not be close anymore, as interests differ throughout the years. That cousin you used to not have much patience for is now the one you can’t wait to see. Cherish, your family. Love your family. Thank God for your family. 

Dear Father, thank you for this past weekend. Thank you for blessing our family. Thank You for the food, the pool, and the great back yard. Thank You for the conversation, the golf and the forty-two. Thank You for the voices we used to praise You on Saturday night, and the communion we shared withYou Sunday morning. And Father keep us safe and healthy as we grow and change during this coming year. Guard our marriages, and our children. Please don’t allow age, or accident, or disease to take any of us away, but if it does help us celebrate the loss as a victory, and see it as the beginning of a new reunion. Amen. 

Till next time,

Grump