The Journey 156

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Read: Mathew 19:1-6

   What is the foundation of a nation?. I believe it rest on a strong family. Laura Kay S. Hymowitz, has written a wonderful article, which I believe is an eye opener in the Los Angeles Times dated 3rd June, titled “ The single-mom catastrophe "and how the demise of two parent families is creating  an economic disaster for the United States.  The single-mother concept started way back in the 1960s when Americans started to break the historical connection between marriage and childbearing, and in the process  turning the family concept as single motherhood and the fatherless family  as a  viable, and an alternative and also even welcome arrangement for children and for society. The reasons for this  shift were many factors that included the sexual revolution, a powerful strain of anti-marriage feminism and the sense of individualism that crept into every area of  the American life. Some of the western countries also came to conclusion, that it  is fine for the unmarried individuals to have kids. This was because what they had in mind was a substitute for marriage, but something that was similar, in creation of a stable arrangement where two partners, living together for a  long term, would raise their children together. But in the United States, the “lone motherhood" phenomena — women bringing up kids with no dad around was an American contextual issue. The single-mother revolution has been an economic catastrophe not only for women, but also for men and for the country. The effect of single parenting is very painful not only for mothers and fathers, but also for the children. Research have shown that the children of single mothers are twice likely to drop out of high school when compared to children growing up with both parents.  Even if the children graduate from school they are less likely to go to college. In such a contextual issues of single parenting, how do we understand the concept of transformation in our family life?  This week we are  meditating on the theme “ Transformation in our family life” based on Mathew 19: 1-6. As we discussed yesterday, this is one of the powerful exposition about marriage by Jesus Christ. In this passage we find, Jesus communicating to his hearers that marital relationship is all about two individuals, a male and female who makes a conscious decision to enter into family life with commitment to God and to each other. When an individual makes a commitment towards God as he and she enters into marital life, what the couples is affirming is  that they are ready to live a life of relationship, a life of fellowship and a life where both of them agree to live together in mutual harmony and intimacy. They also make a commitment to raise  the next generation with the help of the  grace and strength of God so that they grow in faith and in commitment to Jesus Christ. Family is an institution to be built by two partners committed to God and to each  other. There is nothing that can substitute in this world for the role played  by father and mother together in the building of the family and also in nurturing of our next generations.

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