I love the new ABC comedy Modern Family. It is one of the funniest new shows I have seen in quite a while. Besides being funny it also gives us real proof that Ed O'Neil did not fall off the face of the earth after "Married With Children." If you are a fan of the nearly extinct genre once known as the sitcom I highly recommend that you watch. Below is a clip from the show.
The show also has me thinking today about how families welcome new members and how they survive many of the changes in today's family life. Families like the one depicted in the show are more and more common. Our family is pretty normal, but we can learn a bit from the show as well.
My family growing up was very conservative. They still are. I was raised inside a tight knit group that very rarely welcomed any outsiders. If you married someone unlike the rest of the family you were asking for trouble. The new blood would not be turned away, but they might not be treated as well as they should.
I am not talking about differences anything like you see in the show above or anything like you see in much of America. I am talking about a different home life, a different way of handling conflict, a different church life, different parenting, or any other number of minor differences. I don't mean Muslim vs. Christian, heterosexual vs. homosexual, or vegetarian vs. carnivore. The differences need only to be minute to raise an eyebrow.
As you may have guessed by now I have been a victim of this type of behavior. Arica and I have struggled with my family for years now. It is a difficult thing to go through for anyone. I can't help but watch this fictional TV show with all their problems and all their differences and wish my life more closely resembled their dysfunction. I can only dream of a situation where differences can be accepted and even celebrated. Most importantly I would love a situation where differences made us stronger rather than tore us apart.
I have never written a Christian message in this space before. It is a big part of my life, but I am not comfortable preaching as I am sure most of you are not comfortable being preached too. For once I will break that rule. My daily bible reading today was 1 Corinthians 13. Most all of you readers are familiar with this text whether you are Christian or not. It was even recited in the decidedly non-religious movie "Wedding Crashers."
The part I want to share today is this "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails"
Any "Modern Family" can be strong and accepting of anything as long as they have love. I hope all of you experience this type of love in your family life today and always.
8 comments:
What an incredible message! I have been lucky enough to have great in-laws and to come from a very accepting family. And still I have felt nervous in situations with Hubby's family (& I've known them since I was a teen).
Also, I was thrilled when I found episodes of this show on ondemand the other day!
One reason I do celebrate my age is because life has taught me so much about acceptance. I welcome difference because it expands my horizons. Differences, the good ones, make life so much more interesting. I try not to deal in sterotypes, limiting what I can learn from other people.
My family has never been what is considered "normal." Because there are so many people in it, there are a lot of differences. I'm talking nationality, sexuality, married states, etc. I grew up in a family of seven women. My Dad, God bless him, was there, but not on a day to day basis. The door to my home was always open, so you never would know who would drop by. This is where I started to learn about differences and how to welcome them.
I'm sorry you have such difficulty with your family. It has to leave you and Arica heartsore. I don't know what I do without mine. Now, no one in my family is perfect. We can't be, we're human, but I do enjoy them.
BTW,the Bible passage from Corinthians was read at my wedding . . . by mistake. But that's another story. No matter, the message is powerful.
I really enjoyed this post and not once did I feel preached to.
Sorry, still don't know if I'll tune into Modern Family, but at least it's on my radar now.
"Any "Modern Family" can be strong and accepting of anything as long as they have love."
If only everyone could "preach" this and live by it...THANK YOU!!
Love that show. It is probably the best new sitcom that has come out in a while.
And I agree with you that you can be tolerant and accepting if you have love. I've learned a difficult lesson about tolerance with respect to other people's opinion over the last week or so. I wish more people would take this message to heart.
We have a lot of love amongst our family! We must, or we would have killed each other years ago! LOL!
Loved this post!
My family and my husband's family are loving but rather dysfunctional. It's taken me years to accept that people love the best they can. Great post.
I love that show. It's so much closer to real life than anything else on TV. Everyone has a dysfunctional family and if they say otherwise, they're lying!
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