How Messy, Beautiful Relationships Remind Me of Heaven

By Jessica Brodie

Our ratio of pets to people in this house is edging closer. Recently, we adopted another cat, an affectionate ginger we named Finn—this makes three cats in the Brodie home, plus our boisterous and extra-large German Shepherd, Captain, a fish, two snails, and four teens. (Matt and I are outnumbered.)

This is probably the same in most families, but it always makes me both laugh and gain wisdom: everyone in our house is extremely different, animals included.

Here’s the basic rundown:

  • Matt, A.K.A. Husband, Dad, Stepdad: Hilariously funny, protective, loves Jeeps and dogs, strong and handsome, often mistaken for being ex-military, playful, favorite game is tickle torture.

  • Cameron (my son): Oldest boy, funny, responsible, careful, extremely intelligent, loves math, plays viola and piano, likes video games.

  • Allie (my stepdaughter): Oldest girl, amazing strategic mind and usually the winner at family game night, wants to be a nurse, outstanding artist and singer, loves anime and anything animated.

  • Avery (my daughter): Sensitive, animal lover, excellent writer, great at practical jokes, loves to perform, into crafts and baking, great at planning family vacations, wants to be a teacher or vet.

  • Will (my stepson): Classic definition of “boy,” sporty, super-goofy sense of humor, always makes us laugh, huge fan of monkeys, loving and affectionate, always willing to help.

  • Captain: Crazy, loving, high-energy dog. Doesn’t understand why the cats don’t want to play.

  • Leia: Queen-bee brown-gray tabby cat, only likes Mommy except during movie time (when she climbs over me to sleep in Dad’s lap), seems sweet but she’ll tear out your throat if you get too close, prissy but the only cat who can slaughter bugs successfully.

  • Casper, solid white cat: Nicknamed “the jester.” Convinced every morning he will starve to death if he doesn’t obsess about breakfast. Skittish and afraid of tin foil, but super cuddly. Always running around with the “zoomies.”

  • Finn: Newest ginger tabby, nicknamed “the lover.” Adores being stroked, loves everyone, easygoing, grateful to have a home, kind of a loner and enjoys lots of quiet time.

  • Malibu: Performs wild acrobatic displays in his fish tank at mealtimes. Loves when we call him “beautiful.”

  • Nalu and Felix: Laid-back snails. One is dominant, but I can’t actually tell them apart (though Avery can).

And then there’s me… hopefully, you know me well enough at this point after all the pouring-my-heart-out that I do week after week, but I’m a driven, compassionate over-achiever bookworm and writer (fiction and nonfiction( who’s insanely organized and insanely busy but also a weirdo goofball who loves Dad jokes and sci-fi and advocacy.

We’re all really different, and yet we get along. We’re a family. Usually, we can agree on vacations and movies, though the jury’s still out on whether we’ll actually all go camping before someone goes off to college (two among us decidedly do not enjoy the outdoors).

Maybe these differences are because we need to distinguish ourselves from each other, so our personalities become more pronounced, though I suspect a lot of it is innate.

We’re not just a family because of blood or marriage ties, though—we’re also a family in Christ. Every one of us is Christian and actively tries their best to follow Jesus. We all approach our faith differently, but it’s obvious at our core.

It reminds me a lot of how different denominations of Christianity work… some have different theological approaches or rules or styles, but at our core, we all name Jesus as our savior, all know we’re completely lost without Him, and all have the perfect peace that comes with knowing at the end of our earthly days, we get to live on in God’s holy kingdom because of Him and His sacrifice. And because of that, we’re all one family—really, one body, as the apostle Paul writes—with Christ as our head.  

Relationships can be complicated and messy, whether with ourself, our family, our spouses, our coworkers, our neighbors, our fellow church members, or anyone else we encounter. I’ve been listening on Audible to The Road Back to You, the faith-based enneagram book by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile, and it makes a great point that the better we know ourselves, the closer we can draw to the Lord, the deeper we can serve God, and the better we can get along with others in our world.

So on that note, today I offer you 14 blogs I’ve written over the past few years on relationships, both with God, with self, and with others. I hope one or all speak to you.

 

I’d love to know more about the people in your life, whatever that looks like. Share below. And if I can pray for you in any way, please reach out! You can always email me at jessicajbrodie@gmail.com.

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Faith, BlogJessica BrodieAuthor Jessica Brodierelationships, christian family, jesus, getting along with others, knowing myself17 Comments