Article March 22, 1999 Issue

FAMILY: THE TOGETHERNESS OF GOD'S CREATION

Cheryl Ranson, John Ranson

We never expected our family to include a succession of eight newborn foster babies. In fact, twenty-some years ago our view of family was shaped primarily by human planning and convention: get married, wait a few years, have children. Only it didn't happen that way for us. Consequently, we felt impelled to grow spiritually — to explore family as a spiritual idea.

Like other couples who seem unable to have children, we went through periods of sadness. Times when it was difficult to be around couples with kids or even expectant mothers. Our prayers were mental wrestling matches. Yet we were trying to discern and follow God's direction.

Bit by bit, we gave up our despair over what we thought we lacked and came to see what we already had — the family that God had placed us in. This family, we found, is not a collection of people related by common human ancestry. It is wholly spiritual, the togetherness of God's, Spirit's, entire creation. With God as Father-Mother, we're all truly part of a wonderful family. Our common Parent is all-loving, all-wise, ever present. So He must create and maintain the relations between all His offspring as affectionate, peaceful, strong, and lasting.

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