Family

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

Erica’s sister Angela and brother-in-law Ricky have five-month old twins. If you do the math you would know that for four months Erica and Angela were simultaneously pregnant. Those four months are fun to reflect upon because Erica and Angela would regularly communicate. Sometimes it would be to motivate and encourage, while other times it would be for sympathy or problem solving.

Similarly Ricky and I would occasionally wonder what fatherhood would be like and how we can best support our pregnant wives. We may have even had conversations about how to support a vomiting wife.


[Angela and Ricky have documented their journey on a blog, and recently the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal ran a front-page article about their story]
http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2016/08/28/families-grow-snowflake-adoptions/88269400/

For us, pregnancy soon turned into parenthood and Angela and Ricky followed soon after. It has been so much fun to grow as parents alongside of Angela and Ricky. We’ve had late-night FaceTime calls trying to figure out how to work some new parenting-related electronics, texts and photos on how to assemble other baby things and emails of encouragement, distress and prayer requests. Most of all, we’ve been able to motivate and encourage one another during this new stage in life.

These types of life-changing experiences - pregnancy and parenting - when done together, really deepen relationships and strengthen bonds. When the bond strengthens, its seems that we get together more often.

The party hasn’t stopped with Angela and Ricky. Erica’s twin and her husband are expecting their first child. Those two have been exchange encouragement, product ideas, strategies, and other Pinterest things with one another.

Some good friends of mine also just had their first baby. We are so fortunate to have people in our lives who can share in some of these experiences. They have prompted us to make sure we motivate and encourage one another.

We navigate these shared experiences that draw us close together. Are we drawn together because of our motivation and encouragement toward one another during these experiences? Then, I have to wonder why we wouldn’t motivate and encourage one another all the time.  The writer of Hebrews is basically telling us that our lives here on this earth are short. Why are we not actively thinking of ways to motivate and encourage one another? I’m confident that as you were reading this, someone’s name came into your mind on who you should call and motivate. Why not make a connection and send some encouragement their way?

Shawn