The Journey 41: Transformation in myl ife

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Read: Genesis 2,3
Key Verse: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [ Galatians 5:16]

                Empowerment was a catch word for this decade. Every institution both in the secular and the religious world adopted it as catchword. Hence you had seminars like empowerment of the work force, empowering the individual, empowering the woman, empowering the managers…...the list goes on. Empowerment is a positive action and it  brought about a renewal in people’s life and avenues where each person felt that they could be better citizens and individuals by their creative contributions and role in an organization or in an institution. Today everyone claims to be a empowered individual. But has the correct perspective  of empowerment transferred to all areas of our life. We live today where the attitude of people have become more self centered, focused more on individual goals and accomplishments and whose prime objective is “I will do what gives me happiness and I am not concerned as to how  my action affects others”. This has brought about a disastrous effect in every areas of our life. This attitude has also come about in our family life too.
                  On Saturday’s our theme for meditation is “transformation in our family life”. On Saturday’s we are  meditating on the life of the first family: “ Adam and Eve”. Did this concept of individual happiness or the attitude that what I do is more important, even if it has a negative effect on my relationship with others, exist in the first family? I believe it existed and that is how the first family experience rift in between their relationship, and thus sin comes into their life? We find that when the devil is tempting her to eat forbidden fruit, in the course trying to tell her to disobey God, Eve knows that God has commanded certain laws which will help both her and Adam to live a fruitful life. But Eve without thinking of Adam decides what is best for her and for her husband. She does not think how her action will affect her relationship with God nor her relationship with her husband Adam. Not only is her decision unilateral she also sees that Adam also toes here line of action. The result is that the first family get alienated from God. When God instituted the family, the responsibility was to be shared equally by both man and woman. They had to form equal and a responsible relationship where decision that they took were decided and discussed together for the betterment of their life and their family.
I believe this concept exist today in our family life. Today there are spouse or even children in the family who carry  this particular attitude “I will do what is best that I think, even if it causes hurt to my spouse or to my children or parents, I just don't  care”. Can we learn from the sins of the first family?. What God wants us in our family is an attitude where we plan and decide together, what is best for our family rather than one of the spouse trying to force his/her opinion on the other.  
Do you force your opinion in your family or do you listen and value the opinion of others in your family?
Family is a bond of collective relationships.
 
Let us Pray: Lord you want us to make our family life a blessed through collective effort of every  member in our family. Forgive our sins of self centerdness and our attitude of working for our own pleasure than the happiness of others. Amen

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