One of the New Year’s traditions in the Philippines is serving sticky rice during Media Noche or the New Year’s Eve Dinner. For us Filipinos, it is meant to ensure togetherness as a family, in the year that we are ushering in.
But if we are indeed serious in our goal to ensure that the whole family will stick together through thick or thin in the coming year, we need to do something more than serving biko, sapin-sapin, and tikoy. We ought to look onto God, put Him in the center of our family life, and pray hard that our Heavenly Father will allow all of us to remain supportive, forgiving, loving, and gracious to one another.
“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Psalm 127:3-5
Psalm 128 encapsulates the many blessings promised to the head of the family who seeks and worships the Lord, and live his faith. And if we will think about it, the blessings promised in this Psalm are that which we want to achieve by believing in that Sticky Rice tradition. It entails sweetness and togetherness in the family by making the dad lead the whole family to God, the mom productive and nurturing, and the children being content at home. Indeed, we ought to have a change of perspective, a redirection of heart, and immediate refocus of time, attention and energy to the Lord.
“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.” Psalm 128:1-4
As moms, we could start by ensuring that we as a family will live a life of worship. We teach our children about God, His character and commands even at their young age. We expose them to church, and worship the Lord as a family. We normalize biblical conversations at home, and make learning about God and His character as interesting to everyone in the family as possible.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 4:4-7
And while there is nothing wrong about wholesome entertainment, we as moms should start getting our families to consume bible-based content. This goes for movies, shows, online videos, books, apps, and songs. When we saturate our days and our hearts with God’s word, we will be more mindful of His will and we are more likely to adopt Godly characteristics, and make God-honouring choices
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16
We also ought to be more intentional in loving each other, as it is our calling as followers of Jesus:
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:13-14
More importantly as a parent, we should set an example to our children when it comes to putting God first in our lives. Our children should know that we intentionally pray and give our undivided time and attention to the Lord. They should also see us reading the Bible and applying its lessons in our everyday lives. As they say, children will not do what we tell them to do, but they will mimic what they see in us.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
And so as we usher in the New Year, let us offer to God our families and invoke His blessings of togetherness, and loving kindness to each of us. Instead of relying on superstitions, let us entrust to our Sovereign King our family life and ask Him to guide each of us as we seek His wisdom and tap on His strength so that we can be more patient, loving, supportive, thankful, and forgiving towards each other. When we love God above all, we will want to please Him and love unconditionally, the family He has blessed us with
“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to
ponder on Colossians 3:12-21 and Psalm 128 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: How do you plan to encourage your family to stick together this coming New Year? How can God help you in this goal?
Conversation with the Lord: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for being our Sovereign King. Thank you for the family you gave us. Please grant us the grace to be more loving, kind, patient, and merciful toward each other. Give us as well the opportunity to seek you together, so that we can grow together spiritually, and live a family life anchored on You. Amen.
