Death: A time to bring families together or divide?

When a family member dies the true colors of a family begin to show and sometimes it isn't a pretty picture. Does the family come together to mourn and celebrate that person's life or do they fight and bicker? A strong family may question why God allows a young person to die and grieve over the death of their loved one, but they still reach out to each other with love and often realize they need to say, "I love you," to those they love more often. They question God and look for answers, but they do not allow anger or pettiness to rule their lives even when a young adult is taken from them in the prime of their life. Other families will fight and argue, spout off about how much they hated the person who died, or even refuse to grieve. Grief in this case is harmful instead of a time of strength to grow together.

How are you forming your family? Are you developing a family that sticks together even through the tough times or do you allow the hurts of life to divide you? As Christians, we should be focusing on love, charity, the heart of Christ's teachings. Otherwise, we risk our emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Even when we have been harmed in the past, we have to forgive so that the hurt and anger of past does not rule our life. This is often a hard part of Christianity and even of emotional wellbeing, but 1 Corinthians 13 reminds of what love is and that love has no room for anger. This does not mean we cannot feel anger, but it means we must move past it and allow love to be our fuel instead of anger. Is this a part of our faith that we practice or is it one of the inconvenient teachings that we dismiss in the heat of the moment.

May the peace and love of Christ be with you always!