aiden choles

Sam and I have been talking about our families a lot lately. We're on the verge of bringing a new being into the world, and into two very different families.

One of the questions I've been asking myself for the last 24months or so is: how do I reconcile my faith-life with my family life?

My folks have always been very supportive of my church endeavours, but they themselves have not found any traction from a faith perspective. As I've moved closer to the teachings of Jesus and the influence of the Holy Spirit, I have found that I lead a double life: that of my faith-community, and that of my family. I have not been good at being a congruous being. At times I have felt that I'm the same old Aiden in front of my family, but a different person in my faith community.

This incongruity is an imbalance, and like nature dislikes imbalance, I have felt the need to address the issue. My solution: to try and be more upfront with my family about my faith, my relationship with Jesus and how it all affects the way I see the world.

It has been a process of baby steps for now. I have sensed (only slightly) a resistance and hesitance to me being more congruent and true to my faith. I guess the danger of doing this is that it gets interpreted through the normative secular filter of who and what a Christian is i.e. they bible bash you, they try and impose salvation on your life, they are hypocrites, etc.

In the end, I have a sense that the last thing my family want is to feel that I'm imposing my faith on them. I hope they never feel this. Rather, I hope they'd see that it is something I want to share with them ... in more than an information sense.

Again, Sam and I were talking about why we desire that our families find faith. It's not the usual 'turn-or-burn' sentiment, but rather that we believe we have access the a better life through Jesus, and that this experience is worth sharing. Also, that it would help to have more in common with our families ... something more than the same home town, etc, but something of greater significance, something of eternal value.