Family Value

In the beginning of this month I went on a 17 hour drive to spend time with family in another state. I got to spend time with my best friend, and enjoy the company of cousins that I have not seen in years. As a result of my two week journey all the funds I earned working the last two months were depleted. But that was a small price to pay, because family is so vitally important.
It is because of the relationships that we have with each other. I could have not driven anywhere and seen just as many people, but it wasn't just because they are people. It is because they are the people with whom I have a family relationship. Part of the balance of life is that we maintain our relationships with our family. From playing video games with one of my cousins for 7+ straight hours, to watching another of my cousins neuter a cat, all of the time that I spent was very valuable.
I got to spend a day with my uncle a week before he died. I sat with him in the ICU while he was on the respirator for several hours when no one else was there. I never to to talk to him that much before, but I got to tell him all about my life and my ambitions, and where I feel that God is taking me. I sang songs in his room. On my 8 hour trip to the medical facility where he was staying, I stopped to get gas. I saw a sign for a church that said they were meeting at 7:30 that Monday night, and it was 7:25. So after getting gas, after having driven for 6 hours already, I went into that building and met the pastor there before they started. It was actually 3 full gospel churches that had come together to focus on and pray for their youth and schools. I waited for about 90 minutes, listened to all the stuff they said that didn't really pertain to me, and when they were about to leave I got up and had them all pray for my uncle. I already knew at that time that he was probably going to die, my prayer was just that he would be conscious so that he could get peace from my visit and me telling him how well me and my family were doing. And he was conscious when I visited him, and he could hear and understand what I was saying.

But I don't even value family as much as I should. All the time I spent and work I put into my relationships with family is not adequate. Just like anything we have, family relationships are something we are responsible for in making the most out of them to serve the God who has entrusted them to us. We have to be good stewards of all of our relationships, so that means we have to value the people that we have relationships with. If we are to love them, we have to value our friends and family more than we value ourselves. That is something I still have to work on.