Colossians 3:15 English Standard Version (ESV) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

As we approach this thanksgiving season there are many who intend to celebrate together with family. We are born into this world with one family and when we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts we are born again into a new family.

Natural birth is a learning experience, we know nothing and then learn by experience, little by little, year after year. Family dynamics are so complicated that we can only think of our own and cannot imagine what it must be like for others.

Being in Christ is different in that our first born is Jesus Christ. He is the first born of which we all model our lives together. He shows us where we belong in this new family. We discover who we are in Christ which is different from who we were in the world. Discovering who we are in Christ can be challenging because we have to leave that old life behind.

Are we thankful for this new life in Christ? We can get so busy with all that it entails that we might forget to be thankful for being called out of our old lives. We are encouraged to look forward and not look back. For some of us it is easy to turn our backs on a painful past. For some of us the past was full of pleasures which were self-indulgent and addictive. It might be a past that still has fond memories of the pleasures which mask the very reasons we sought to accept Christ.

We should celebrate this season with our families, old and new. We should be thankful for being called into this new life. Should doesn’t always mean that everyone does. Their peace may be disturbed.