Below is more from my new talk I am to give in August. This is the 3rd priority out of 7. Please remember this is a work in progress, and these are mostly my notes to help me create the talk. I hope you enjoy….
The third priority is the priority of Family; this priority helps to ground you in the reality that you are here to serve others. Our families, be it blood relatives or extended family does not matter, teach us to place ourselves last in line. We must serve and protect that which is dearest to us. Faith in Family teaches us this lesson. What parent would not give their life to protect their child? What uncle or aunt would not wish for the best for their nieces and nephews? We are protectors and nurtures by nature, and this attribute is the backbone of third priority.
To protect and nurture others, our family, is place ourselves in a position of vulnerability. Yet this vulnerability creates in us a sense of value, giving us a purpose that we could not posses without our faith if family.
Word Origin & History
family
c.1400, "servants of a household," from L. familia "household," including relatives and servants, from famulus "servant," of unknown origin. The classical L. sense recorded in Eng. from 1545; the main modern sense of "those connected by blood" (whether living together or not) is first attested 1667. Replaced O.E. hiwscipe. Buzzword family values first recorded 1966. Phrase in a family way "pregnant" is from 1796. Family circle is 1809; family man, one devoted to wife and children, is 1856 (earlier it meant "thief," 1788, from family in slang sense of "the fraternity of thieves"). Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Servant of a household, one who serves others, the act of being a servant is not the act of servitude, there is a basic difference, one being an action we choose (servant) the other an action place upon us (servitude). By choosing too freely serve others, we are choosing the higher ground, we are choosing to place our priorities in the proper order.
It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known.
Balancing a job and a family is not the hardest thing to achieve. It’s second. (Right after world peace.) Balancing a job and a family is not the hardest thing to achieve. It’s second. (Right after world peace.)
God Bless
Paul
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