Tonight was the wedding. It was beautiful, as all weddings are, and it gave me just the right amount of warm fuzzies.

It also got me thinking more about family.

Family isn’t always a matter of blood-relations and sharing genes. Family is being committed to each other no matter what. It’s saying, “You are my child, no matter what. Nothing you can do will ever change that. You may break my heart but you will never ever stop being my son or my daughter.”

I believe the same applies to the family of God. Nothing I will ever do will ever cause me not to be a child of God. I may grieve God’s Spirit, but I will always be His. And He will always be mine.

One last thought: if God can forgive the worst in me, who am I to deny forgiveness to anyone? What has anyone ever done to me that even comes close to what I have done to God?

So that’s it. Family is all about loving each other no matter what and learning to be good forgivers because we each have been forgiven much.

I went to a rehearsal dinner tonight for one of my cousins, which got me thinking about family. Here goes.

You can choose your friends but not your family. For better or worse, you’re stuck with your relatives. And before you go and start bad-mouthing your family members, remember that you’re just as imperfect as they are.

You will have many friends over your lifetime, many of whom will come and go, but you only get one family. After they’re gone, that’s it.

While you may at times think that nothing can be worse than your relationship with a certain family member, there is something worse than that. Regret over lost opportunity.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than the regret over the broken relationships that you can never go back and fix once the other member is gone. And by gone, I mean dead.

I love the scene in the movie Home Alone where the old neighbor finally calls his estranged son and they are reconciled. I love the idea that it’s never too late while the other person is still alive to reach out and seek reconciliation.

So remember that. Whatever hurt you may feel is nothing compared to the regret of a lost relationship. Forgiving is hard, but not as hard as having to say “I’m sorry” to a tombstone.

There’s nothing like cold weather to make my bed seem more inviting. Being under the covers when it’s chilly outside is a good feeling.

There’s not really a spiritual point to that. I just like my blankets, especially when they’re flannel or jersey sheets. Oh yeah.

I do like simple things.

I also like having my ceiling fan on at all times. Even on the coldest night of the year, I still like to have it on. There’s something about the air stirring and the soft hum of the ceiling fan motor that helps me sleep.

And I do like my sleep. As the old joke goes, I’m good in bed. I could sleep all day.

“So we have no reason to despair. Despite the fact that our outer humanity is falling apart and decaying, our inner humanity is breathing in new life every day. You see, the short-lived pains of this life are creating for us an eternal glory that does not compare to anything we know here. So we do not set our sights on the things we can see with our eyes. All of that is fleeting; it will eventually fade away. Instead, we focus on the things we cannot see, which live on and on” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

I’d like to say that I never complain or get annoyed, but I do. Here are a few things that get on my nerves (and note how most of them involve driving and/or traffic):

1) Slow-moving traffic, especially when there’s no obvious reason for it.

2) People who crowd the yellow line on two-lane roads and can’t seem to quite stay in their lane.

3) People who don’t know how to merge, use turn signals, stop at red lights, or drive in general. And I realize that I cheated and combined several pet-peeves into one.

The Apostle Paul spoke of momentary light afflictions he was enduring. Here’s what he considered “momentary” and “light”:

1) Being beaten with rods.

2) Being stoned and left for dead.

3) Being harassed and persecuted in virtually every place where he went to spread the gospel.

4) Being shipwrecked.

5) Being in prison.

He even said to count it all joy. To give thanks. To be content. Why? Because all that produces an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs any of the bad you go through.

I suppose we all need an attitude adjustment from time to time. Maybe what I need is to have an attitude of gratitude.

That’s the title of the new Kairos series. It would also make for a good mission statement. The key isn’t to be a masochist or a sadist, but to change your perspective and look for things to be thankful for in any situation. To see joy in every circumstance.

Yeah, I think I’ll do that.