Published July, 2002<\/p>\n
God sets the lonely in families\u2026<\/i><\/b> His words tug at my heart.\u00a0 The psalmist is my daily encourager, friend, and teacher\u2026he reminds me of the power of possibilities in the coming day.<\/p>\n I close the Bible and turn off the reading lamp so as to be able to soak in the approaching dawn.\u00a0 The sounds of birds outside announce the birth of a new day just over the edge of the horizon.<\/p>\n In the cool morning air, I close my eyes and settle into the anticipation of one of God\u2019s many common miracles\u2026a fresh, bright day.\u00a0 My feet propped on the low table, unexpectedly in the quiet, like a drop of fresh dew, the psalmist\u2019s words return to me.\u00a0 Insistent.\u00a0 One simple line from hundreds.\u00a0 God sets the lonely in families<\/i>.<\/p>\n My mind stirs.\u00a0 How peaceful this morning has been\u2026a peace born of recent family events.\u00a0 Only four days ago we gathered with family and friends to celebrate the graduation of our daughter Jamie from college.\u00a0 It was a magical time.\u00a0 Our son Justin flew in from the east coast, and we all came together on an outdoor patio for dinner–former neighbors, a baby sitter who became a permanent family friend, uncles, grandparents, former high school pals with their new spouses, and college roommates.\u00a0 My daughter hugged me.\u00a0 \u201cThis was so wonderful,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cAll the people who are important to me\u2014it\u2019s been so special to spend the night with them.\u201d<\/p>\n This has been a month of families for us.\u00a0 We travel next week to celebrate the graduation of our California nephew.\u00a0 And we will also meet his newborn baby for the first time.\u00a0 Another patio, another party, an extension into our lives of his lifelong friends and family\u2026people important to us because they are important to him.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to forget, during these times of joyful celebration, that families are often hard-won blessings.\u00a0 There is a sister who has disavowed family ties and refuses any contact.\u00a0 Insults, never retracted, have been forgiven but not forgotten.\u00a0 Even with uncles and nieces on the patio, we feel the tinge of unspoken family resentments not yet healed, but set aside for the time being.<\/p>\n God sets the lonely in families<\/i>.\u00a0 Like the break of dawn, families are another of God\u2019s common miracles.\u00a0 They are so expected, so common and ever-present, that it\u2019s easy to forget God\u2019s part in their creation.<\/p>\n Unlike the sunrise, however, they are God\u2019s special miracle of creation:\u00a0 our union with the Creator is required to make the miracle.\u00a0 What a blessing born of the miracle of forgiveness I have experienced this month.\u00a0 Letting go of past insults, my sister-in-law and I came together on a business trip and enjoyed a seaside evening of dinner, talking, and laughing.\u00a0 Family restored\u2026by God\u2019s healing touch.<\/p>\n No better picture of the healing restoration of God\u2019s touch can I think of than another approaching family event\u2026a wedding.\u00a0 And this wedding will be no uncommon miracle.\u00a0 It is a testimony to God\u2019s mercy as He works with our imperfections.<\/p>\n Only a year ago, two high school teenagers rejected the patient counsel of parents and gave into passion and temptation.\u00a0 They created a new life.<\/p>\n While this was the classic \u201cproblem pregnancy,\u201d God\u2019s own patient counsel worked in the hearts of the family.\u00a0 Rejecting the idea that any problem was too big for their Heavenly Father, the parents committed love and acceptance to their daughter, her boyfriend, and their developing baby.<\/p>\n For nine months the seeds of human love were nurtured with prayer and submission to God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Where temptation might have prompted anger, accusation, and rejection, instead obedience to the Lord created restraint, patience, and love.\u00a0 And where humans cooperate with Divine Creation, God sets the lonely in families<\/i>.<\/p>\n As the teenagers accepted human and godly counsel, their baby was born into God\u2019s promises.\u00a0 Over the many succeeding months, the new mother and father have been able to create godly love from physical love.\u00a0 And next week they will give their son the gift of family, becoming husband and wife.<\/p>\n With my feet up and my eyes closed, His words tug at my heart.\u00a0 The psalmist from centuries before is always able to reach into my modern life as a brother and share a smile or tear.\u00a0 He is a good companion for the mornings, a kinship of God\u2019s eternal family.<\/p>\n God\u2019s many common miracles\u2026the power of His creation shines bright in the sun and rolls strong in the ocean currents.\u00a0 Greater still, the blessing of His creation calls to us as His helpers, His agents, His children.\u00a0 God sets the lonely in families<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Published July, 2002 God sets the lonely in families\u2026 Psalm 68:6 His words tug at my heart.\u00a0 The psalmist is my daily encourager, friend, and teacher\u2026he reminds me of the power of possibilities in the coming day. I close the Bible and turn off the reading lamp so as to be able to soak in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-and-that"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406,"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janejimenez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPsalm 68:6<\/em><\/p>\n