If you are fortunate enough to live in a healthy family you might breathe a prayer of thanks. In all likelihood you inherited it from your parents who got it from their parents. As you enrich it and pass it on to your children don't forget to share its blessings with your friends and acquaintances. The world desperately needs more examples of families that are doing well.
On the other hand, if your family needs a major overhaul don't despair, it can be done. First of all you need to decide what a healthy family would look like. All families are different, of course, but the most important requirement for a healthy family is the relationship between the husband and wife. The best family is one that has a good balance of leadership between the husband and wife. In his letter to the Ephesian church, chapter 5, the apostle Paul sets forth the kind of relationship that will cause a marriage and family to thrive and grow in any age or culture.
To the couples he said: "submit to one to another out of reverence for Christ...each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."
Any wife should be happy to respond with joy to a husband who loves her as much as life itself. In a few sentences Paul sets forth principles of mutual love and respect that would cause marriages to thrive when they are practiced.
We all know there are no perfect families but the following list would describe what such a family would look like if it existed. May I suggest that the more these statements apply to you the better your family must be.
In healthy families,
Of course these are not all of the traits of a healthy family but they are the principal ones. In future columns some of these will be discussed. I am convinced that no other institution can compare to the family in its influence on the development of its members whether for good or bad. It is my hope and prayer that each of us will make the most of our families.