Thought for the Week: What does it mean to be family?

I used to think my family was pretty straightforward, it was my Mum, my Dad, my sister and me. But I rapidly realised that there was more to family than that. Our families include aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Most aren’t just blood relatives – there are partners, in-laws, adopted, step, or foster children, or just friends we are so close to that they are practically kin. When I was 19 my Mum passed away. My Dad has since remarried and now I have a stepmum, and three stepbrothers, all with partners of their own, some with children, and they are also my family. I could go on.

There are lots of different kinds of families. Some are the stereotypical nuclear family – mum, dad, two-point-four children. Some have only one parent, or no children, or a dozen cats. Those of us who watch Call the Midwife see a different kind of family in the convent of Nonnatus House. They are a family of sorts – Sisters to each other, led by a Mother; a family related not by blood or marriage, but by sworn vows to each other and to God.

Those of us who are Christians are part of a different family again – the Church, the family of God. Being a Christian means being adopted into that family as siblings of Jesus Christ, and we are all called to love one another as we love God and love ourselves.

Many people will have found Mothering Sunday difficult. Some, like me, have lost their mums. Others have difficult or strained relationships with their mothers, or even don’t speak to them at all. But there are lots of different ways of being family, not all related by blood; a family is just a group of people committed to loving and caring for each other for all their lives.

You may find that family in your blood kin. You may find it in your spouse or in-laws. You may find it in your friends. You may find it in God and the Church. But wherever you find it, your family is still something to be celebrated and treasured, and I hope you find happiness with them.