November 20th
"Going home for the holidays."
Even in the best of families, holiday reunions can be a stressful time when we experience anything but peace. But Galatians 5 says that as new persons in Christ, we have a choice about our thoughts and actions, no matter where we are. If we live according to our sinful nature, the result is "hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions" (v.20). But if the Holy Spirit controls us, we can show "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (vv.22-23). When we get together with our families, these Spirit-filled qualities can be seen as we "through love serve one another" (v.13).
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...
Galatians 5:22
Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice.
Reinhold Niebuhr
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
George Bernard Shaw
Heaven