The Body

 I grew up listening to a radio station that played Focus on the Family broadcasts.  According to those shows my family never did anything we were supposed to do.  Up until now I had always thought it meant I was a subpar Christian because I didn't have everything the "perfect little Christian" needed to live the perfect, everything is wonderful, "I love Jesus" life.  I really don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, but I just came to understand that my family's actions are totally separate from my relationship to God.  And God isn't looking down on me saying "now Crystal, you and your brother aren't best friends so I don't think I can use you as much as I'd like to."  God really does call people who don't have perfect lives, and he really does expect to use them for great things.  

1 Cor 12:27 says "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."  There are a lot of people who do "focus on the family" and I think you should, as parents, take time to invest in your children and your relationship with your spouse.  But, isn't the body a closer knit assemblage than a group of people?  A family can separate and each member can function on its own, but the hand cannot function without the arm nor the arm without the torso.  God is teaching me, at this time in my life to focus on the body.  He has always provided the relationships, encouragement and support that I have needed through my fellow Christians and its time for me to let go of what the radio says I need and start fully investing myself in the body.