Family Connections

One of my husband’s cousins is compiling a family photo album.
Pictures from the past…the Gallagher history.
It is a blessing…and a catharsis…since both of my husband’s parents died this year, seven months apart.

A walk down memory lane.
Seeing my husband as a boy…with his sister and three brothers.
Two more brothers and a sister would come soon after.
They all have the same faces…they are now just an older version of themselves.
They have the same mannerisms.
The brother that teases now…was the brother that teased then.

Snapshots…moments frozen in time.
It is good to see…and good to remember.

We marvel that our oldest son looks exactly like my husband’s father at the same age.
It is uncanny.
As a wife…and not an original Gallagher…some of these pictures are a bit lost on me.
My husband had to explain different people that I may have only met once, or not at all.

I cherish the connection he has to the past…knowing his history, and his ancestors.
Being adopted, I do not have that same connection.
Whenever there was a family tree project at school, my children only had one side of the tree that they could complete.

The Gallagher side is so strong…so detailed.
My husband’s father went to great lengths to make sure his children all knew who they were…and where they came from.

That legacy is a gift my children will carry with them forever.
They can pass that heritage on to their children someday.

We were amazed that there was even a picture of the house my husband’s great-grandmother lived in…located in County Donegal, Ireland.

Connections are so very important!
A link from the present back to the past.

Matthew and Luke include the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of their Gospels.
Matthew’s genealogy goes back to Abraham, showing Jesus’ Jewish roots.
Luke’s genealogy goes back to Adam, showing that the Good News of Jesus was for all people.

Genealogy was so important to the Israelites.
They kept impeccable records to show the purity of their lineage.
After the Babylonian captivity, the Israelites returned to cities…destroyed by the armies.
Many of them were able to show their family records, their place in various Israelite towns.
They preserved their connection to the past.

Some, however, could not show their lineage and were not able to serve as temple priests.

Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town)…These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
(Ezra 2:1, 62)

Whether we can trace our roots back to our ancestors or not, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have another family connection.
According to Jesus, this family of believers is the most important.

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
(Matthew 10:34-39)

We are told to honor our mothers and fathers.
We can honor them best by loving God first.

Husbands are told to love their wives…and wives are told to respect their husbands.
We can love and respect our spouses best when we love God first.

When a person comes to Christ, things get left behind.
The old wine doesn’t fit in the new wine skins.
The way things have always been, doesn’t fit any more, as we draw closer to our Lord.

Sometimes, families are broken when one person comes to Christ.
Leaving old religious ways behind, and clinging to a relationship with Christ, is rarely understood.

Jesus knew it would be like that…He said so.
There really is no other choice but to follow Him!

Often, the church family becomes more of a family than your real family.
When the Lord is shared…the bond is unbreakable!

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You. He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to His disciples He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
(Matthew 12:46-50)

Family connections are so important.
They must be eternal…not just temporal connections.

I praise God that my children do have a legacy.
They do know who they are…they know their roots.

They also know WHOSE they are…and that is by far more important!
That is the legacy of faith they must pass on to their children.
The full picture.
Both sides of the family tree…complete.