Our time with our family, regardless of how stressful it is, can give us the opportunity for spiritual reflection. Too often we busy ourselves with all the tasks that come with the holidays: preparing meals, shopping for gifts, and dressing for parties. As a result, we don’t give ourselves the opportunity to think about the meaning that is behind this season. However, if we are able to reframe our family gatherings as an opportunity for spiritual growth and reflection, then we’ll be able to make our holidays more meaningful and fulfilling.
Loving our family members can help us become more dependent on God. Instead of being annoyed by the behavior of our family, we can see our time with family as an opportunity to practice being more loving, patient, gentle, and kind. If we’re focused on relating to our family in a way that would reflect God’s love, we will invariably be more dependent on God. We should reflect on how we can be more loving instead of focusing on the ways in which others are not doing so. As we try to live out these virtues in the stress of family time, we will realize how much we need God’s help to do so.
Relationships with in-laws can sometimes be the most difficult, but they’re also an opportunity for spiritual growth. Intentionally focusing on the good that we see in our in-laws can enable us to be less bothered by the things that we don’t like about them. Every person has some good in them because we’ve each been created by God in the image of God. It may be harder for us to see these things in some people, but it’s always there. This year, try really searching for what it is that you like about your family members and you’re bound to have a more positive experience. Growth will come if we can be less focused on finding fault in our family members and more focused on how God sees them.
When family members are being challenging, it’s important to remember that we’re all a part of God’s family. We don’t choose the family that we are a part of in the same way that we choose our friends. We’re forced to love, to forgive, and to be in community with this group of people that we may not even like very much. But God’s design is that we would be able to love those who seem unlovable. This doesn’t mean that we should tolerate emotional or physical abuse, but it does mean that we should try to see our family members as God sees them. Learning to love difficult family members can help us reach out to all those who are a part of God’s family.
