What Does It Look Like? - Family Traditions

What Does It Look Like? - Family Traditions

I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else. —Marilyn Monroe

BELONGING. Some of us read that word and feel connected and safe. We know we are a member of a tribe—either a family or community (for some folks, their friends are their family)—and our participation in traditions comes naturally. But for others of us, the word belonging conjures up nothing but feelings of aloneness and vulnerability. Wouldn’t it be great to break the cycle and establish family traditions for our future generations?

I’ll be the first to admit that when it came to developing family traditions, I wasn’t the most creative cat in the barn. What few traditions we established when the kids were young mostly centered around food: tamales and chili on Christmas Eve (after church), Saturday morning McMillers (our much-improved family version of the Egg McMuffin), sausage balls on Thanksgiving morning (Shauna has picked up this torch and carries it nicely), and herb-crusted beef tenderloin on Christmas Day (you can count on it). But as I think about our family traditions and about creating a haven for Ava where she knows she belongs, I know in my heart that food alone will not sustain her.

In order for our society to create an environment where our children thrive as part of a greater family unit, grandparents are essential. While Mammaw created traditions for me that provided me with a firm sense of belonging, my children, because their grandmothers were not active participants in their upbringing, didn’t enjoy that same sense of inclusion in a larger family unit.

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. (Ephesians 2:20)

Our mobile culture, with families on the move and the shallow disagreements with extended family, is robbing our children of the one thing they need more than anything else: to belong.