a love lab

Lewis tells us about love in our family today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that God has given us a little microcosm of the universe in our family. And in this family, we are naturally born with affection for one another. You see this in your family, and you read about it in the Bible, too. God tells us that just as a mother would not abandon her child, so He will not abandon us. He has given us this powerful love between husband and wife, and between parent and child, to teach us what love looks like. To give us a "lab", like when you take a class in school, to practice the love that He instructs us to give everyone.

Now, I've said in other blogs how loving our family can be difficult sometimes. And that's true. But you also see how, on the other hand, loving our family can be the easiest and most natural thing in the world. Most mothers, when seeing their newborn child for the first time, are overwhelmed with a love for them so powerful that they would gladly give their own lives to protect the innocent, precious little child.

God uses everything in our lives to teach us. He is constantly giving us examples and curriculum to help us grow in our faith and in our love for other people. Our families are one of the best ways in which He teaches us what love looks like. From that lab, we can then go on to learn to love everyone the way He does...and the way He calls us to.

God, thank You for the love lab that is our family.