Thankful For My Family And All The Families Out There Poem by Jim Yerman

I mentioned I am thankful for my house, my friends and how important they are to me…
Today I'd like to add how I'm thankful for my family.

I'm thankful for my parents, my brothers, my children, my grandchildren…my wife…
I'm thankful they have miraculously found their way into my life.

There are some people who mistakenly think the traditional family has been disbanded…but as for me…I like to think…its definition has expanded.

Divorce brought our two families together…and though at times it can be complicated…
when our two families joined…a new family was created.

It's not the ‘traditional' family we were brought up thinking of…
but it's a family, like every family…built on trust and fueled by love.

Consistent…unconditional love…which is not always as easy as it sounds…
but it is what makes the family flourish…what makes the world go round.

If this type of love and caring a family comprises…
then it stands to reason…families…can come in many shapes and sizes.

Parents can be together, divorced, single, young, old…even the same sex too
which means families can be traditional, untraditional, extended and come in different hues.

I think as time marches ever onward…the definition of family will always be changing
never constant in its makeup…but constantly rearranging.

To those of you who think the family is dead and no longer the way your God designed it…What if the family is thriving and your God just redefined it?

I am thankful for my family today…for their love and all the things their love can do…
and I know tomorrow…whatever my family looks like…I'll be thankful for that too.

Perhaps, one day, we won't care what a family looks like…
what parents we're assigned…
which makes me wonder if, all along, that wasn't part of God's design.