6 Cycles of Family The Obituary

6 Cycles of Family 

The Obituary 

Our pride should not be in the number of children

and grandchildren listed in our obituary.

Our pride should be in what those lives

 have become because of our influence.

April 19, 2009, I lost my mother.

March 7, 2016, I lost my father.

In writing the obituary, the age,

date of birth and death is recorded.

The professions, hobbies, memberships are noted.

Maybe the most important part

of the obituary is the family.

There are two categories of family members…

Those proceeded in death and the survivors.

My dad lived to be 84 years old,

 with my mother they had 4 children.

My dad’s second marriage, he raised as his own

4 step children and they had 3 children together…

11 children, 27 grandchildren, and 27 great-grandchildren

Totaling 65 people at the time of his death.

I am sure my dad never thought about how large his family would

become when I, the first born, came into the world, 62 years ago.

In the next 62 years, what will that number be?

It would not take long for what started 62 years

before he died to become the size of a city.

Even though the great-great-grandchildren will have never

meet their grandfather, he is responsible for their life.

It becomes very clear that family is a cycle…

 A growing cycle.

When my father passed, he left his earthy possessions

to his 11 children and I am sure it helped each one of us.

   But the most important things a father or mother

can leave to their family aren’t divided like possessions.

It is their life.

I watched my children and their children

sob at the loss of their grandfather.

Why? Because they received something

greater than possessions from my dad.

Yes, he gave them love but he

also taught them a lot about life.

  

Things that helped them to

become who they are today.

We should remember it is not the number of children and

grandchildren listed in your obituary that we should be proud of.

Our pride should be in what those lives

have become because of our influence.

If we as parents look at our role as pastors of a

growing church we will leave an eternal legacy.

Parents should shepherd their children

making sure they are spiritually well cared for.

Spiritual truth always gives the

best guidance to natural life.

Our responsibility in the family cycle is to help each life

we bring into the world a life we bring into eternal life.

When our obituary is written will our children

and grandchildren someday join us in heaven?

You may not have as many children and

grandchildren as my dad in your obituary…

But it won’t take too many years for your

family to become the size of a large church.

 

It is our responsibility not to be like Eli.

Though he was a priest and his sons were in the ministry,

they did not follow the Lord.

Eli was a good priest but he

failed when it came to family.

  

Let us not fail at our most important

responsibility, our family.

 

 There are 6 cycles for a family to navigate 

“Cycles of family life”

The marriage

Bearing children

Raising children

The empty nest / launching new family

The declining years

Death in the marriage

Family cycles should be a great experience for the whole family

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 3:1-15 NIV

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:

"Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion,

during the time of testing in the desert,

9 where your fathers tested and tried me

and for forty years saw what I did.

10 That is why I was angry with that generation,

and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,

and they have not known my ways.'

11 So I declared on oath in my anger,

'They shall never enter my rest.'"

12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.