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Thank you to everyone who has thought enough of me to read my articles. As we prepare to move into the second half of the year. I have a deep burden for the family. Celebrated in June each year, National Reunification Month recognizes the people and efforts around the country that help families to stay together. The trauma that family separation causes to children and parents is immeasurable and often permanent. Ergo, I’ve been compelled to encourage us over the next 30 weeks which will take us to the end of the year.

This 30-week planner allows us to concentrate on one item each week of the month to increase stewardship of our families’ love and our responsibility to them.

By applying truth over the weeks and months we hope to create a pattern in our lives that will earn us deeper respect for our children and cultivate deeper levels of love for our spouse or significant other.

Week 1) Acceptance – Receiving another person willingly and unconditionally when the other’s behavior has been imperfect. Being willing to continue loving another in spite of offenses. (Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Romans 15:7 NKJV)

As we have come to discover, none of us are perfect.

Even with the best intentions we make mistakes. Our feelings have been hurt and we’ve hurt some feelings.

Yes, we don’t like some of the choices our family members chose to make or the lifestyles they chose to live. Can we accept the person to the level that we can love the hell out of them?

Now acceptance is a two-way street. We not only have to be willing to accept, but the person has to be willing to be accepted and accept the acceptance. Love doesn’t always sound good, look good, feel good, taste good, or smell good. But doing what’s in a person’s best interest is the objective of true love.

Christ accepts us in spite of ourselves. It’s His love that’s able to overcome our ugliness. Christ is able to take what is viewed as being unacceptable and not only makes it acceptable, but tolerable.

This week let’s work on receiving our family willingly and unconditionally even when their behavior has been imperfect.

Rev. Demetrius Moffett is Senior Pastor of Orange Church of God-Embassy of Grace, 1911 North 16th Street in Orange.