Make it a Good Christmas for your Blended Family

There are many challenges to being a successful blended family.  Making it a good Christmas is one of those challenges.

The issues are many.  Schedules can be difficult.  Selecting which customs to keep is not easy.  Even determining when to open gifts can be a subject for negotiation.  There are many decisions, and the biggest decision is who gets to make the decision.  You never know how many traditions you have until you try to blend families.

It helps if everyone remembers that there is always a history of hurt within a blended family.  There is always some degree of emotional pain.  No one starts out planning to have a blended family.  Something happened at some point in the past.  Someone walked out.  Someone was rejected.  Someone died.  Someone is grieving.  Blended families can be fragile because they are built upon a history of hurt.

Hope, followed by hurt, is then followed by new hope.  That is the pattern of a successful blended family.  Hope, followed by hurt, followed by new hope.  New hope, in a form that could not have been anticipated.  On the macro scale, that is the story of the world.  Paradise, followed by the fall of man, followed by the redemption of creation through Jesus Christ.  On the personal scale, that is the story of a blended family.  Hope, followed by hurt, followed by new hope.

In our sermon this Sunday we will talk about how to make it a good Christmas for your blended family.