Family can be such a joy one moment and then be a source of contention the next. One minute you feel so blessed to have them and in another minute because of what someone says or does, one can feel so shut down by the very family they feel blessed to have. That was me just today on both sides of the seesaw of emotions. And as I write this with tears filling my eyes because I feel hurt, the Holy Spirit quietly brings to my mind the times I’ve been the source of hurt to my family members by saying something in a rushed moment of judgment (which by the way also happened just earlier today).

It’s often the people we live close to daily who can get the raw end of the stick in terms of our time, kindness, energy, etc. After serving others, we come home to our safe spaces to let loose and be ourselves. To let our hair down. To relax and drop the act. And that’s the problem right there. Being ourselves should look the same whether we are at home or in our communities serving. As followers of Christ, it’s not about being “Person A” while we serve others and then transform into “Person B” around our family. Our families deserve to be treated with love, joy, kindness, gentleness, and every other fruit of the Spirit described above in Galatians 5:22-23. These fruits are not reserved for just ministry outside of our house but should be a continuous flow in our lives as we also love and minister to those in our homes.

And yes, there will be moments of hurt; whether it is us being hurt or us being the source of hurt. We are still existing in these broken bodies with a flesh that seeks to trip us up. But we don’t have to live in that hurt and allow it to tear our families apart. The Holy Spirit is right there to help us deal with this hurt; whether it be that we need to acknowledge our actions towards a family member and seek forgiveness or go to the family member who has offended us to start the restoration process. Let’s do all we can to ensure that we are not being used by the enemy to hurt our families; the very unit God has used for years to show our broken world the love of Christ. May we walk in the Spirit to do all we can to protect our families, remembering that our ministry starts in our homes first.