Covenant living is family living at its best. To covenant is to agree to do something good together.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. All of us are products of a family, but all of us have trouble making our families work right all the time. Promises (covenants) are broken, sharp words are spoken, and thoughtless deeds are committed.
Covenant living is responsible living. It is thoughtful, unselfish, generous, and kind. Covenant living gives and receives the highest.
Covenant living demands our best. Some of today’s family arrangements tax the imagination. The family has different shapes and sizes, but is still a family. Some families have no children, while others have preschoolers, teens, and even those beyond the youth years. Some people live alone. They are still a family. Some are single parents. Others have merged two families and the children are his, hers and ours.
So, with all the pressure on the family, we sometimes hurt one another. Our desire to love and help and be a productive family member (the covenant agreement) breaks down, and we wonder what went wrong.
Don’t worry if your family life is not always a breeze. No one’s is. We’ve all had cross words. We all get irritable. We’re all human!
It seems at times that families need the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of Moses, the patience of Job, and the determination of Peter. And that’s just to meet today’s needs. Preparing families for covenant living is a difficult task, frequently bordering on the impossible.
Young people are a complex batch of paradoxes. They grasp for independence but cling to the familiar; they reject parental authority yet yearn for parental discipline. The teen years are full of pitfalls, challenges, disappointments, and victories. Driving a car, getting a job, belonging to a group and registering to vote are critical milestones in the rite of passage toward adulthood.
To accept responsibility, a youth must act responsibly. He/she must assume the consequences for his/her actions. That’s covenant living.
That’s the way it is in our families. We must learn what the rules and regulations are, and then obey them. Such is the nature of a covenant.
My Thoughts is written by Michael C. Blackwell, BCH President/CEO