Every extended family (usually) has the need for a leader or leaders. He or she may vary as needs and issues change. The role may be offered through covert means – a sort of passive pressure – or readily announced and openly assumed.

That person may be required to:

• Initiate meetings and facilitate conversations where there has been a falling out.
• Empower family members to take a hard and loving stand against cruel or harsh treatment at the hands of another member of the family or even someone outside of it.
• Go first – and be the first person in the family to travel or to go to university or to branch off into an area of interest or study that no one in the family has done before.
• Go back, and visit childhood places and long-lost relatives and to hear the family stories that may have never be heard.
• Demonstrate grace, generosity, and forgiveness in a family that may have for many years traded in selfishness, resentment, and judgment.
• Speak well and kindly of those family members who for whatever reason have been rejected by some members of the same family and be willing to reach out to them in order to draw them back into the fold.

If it is you, may you have the courage and the wisdom to exercise your calling.

Posted on November 6, 2017 at 12:59 pm in Addictions, Anger, Attraction, Betrayal, Blended families, Boundaries, Children, Communication, Differentiation, Difficult Relationships, Divorce, Family, Family Systems Theory, Forgiveness, High maintenance relationships   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL