I was browsing through a well-known publisher’s website yesterday when I noticed something that greatly disturbed me. Under the family/parenting section, there was a link that said “Fathers”, but when I clicked the link, it was empty. So I tried the one that said “Mothers” only to find that it was empty too.

It seems to me that there are plenty of opinions on raising children and surviving parenting teenagers, but somewhere along the way, we have forgotten what it is to be a parent. What role does a parent play in a child’s life? What does the ideal parent/child relationship look like?

Now, I’m not claiming to have a perfect family (far from it actually), but one thing I can say is that we relate well to one another. We’re not just family, but friends as well. Best friends.

What caused my family to be this way? A lot of love, a couple decades of prayer, and a whole heap of God’s grace.

Though I’m no expert, I’m going to spend the rest of January writing about the “Family Puzzle.” The way I see it, families are like one big jigsaw puzzle. At first, nothing seems to make sense, but as you begin to connect the pieces – to mesh as a family – you start to get a glimpse of the bigger picture. And like the most complex puzzles, family unity can take weeks, months, even years to form. But in the end, your efforts will have created a masterpiece, and everyone will know where they “fit” in this unique puzzle that we call “family”.

So check back in for new insights throughout the next couple of weeks as we take a look at relationships within families.