Family Tree

Maybe “Family Tree” isn’t a terribly clever blog title, but I’m not feeling terribly creative in the title department at the moment, so please (for the upteenth time) forgive me for that.

Besides Carolyn Arends, there are a number of other singers/bands which I have a deep appreciation of.

Matthew West is one of those.

He’s one of my favorites singers, really (I have all of his major record label albums, and an album or two from before he got big). 

When I found out he had released a new album while I was out traveling the world, it jumped to the top of my list of new music to track down.

I was especially excited, when I read about it, to find out that he had taken inspiration for this album from life stories people had shared with him through email.

How much better of a way could there be to speak into people’s lives through music than to know what people are walking through?

There is one song in particular that I have had on repeat all day today, called “Family Tree” (which is, in fact, on repeat at this very moment).

The song itself is pretty simple, but it nails me in the gut every time I listen to it.

Why?

Because so many people in this world are caught in crazy, dysfunctional thought and life patterns.

There’s this idea floating around out there that the definition of a person is intricately tied to the same exact definition of their parents, their grandparents…

All the sins, all the struggles carry on from generation to generation because, at the end of the day, we believe our family history dictates who we will be.

That belief chains us in the same way it has chained generations to a sick cycle we don’t know how to break out of.

The question posed in “Family Tree” is this:

These are two out of a million I had never thought to ask myself until this time last year.

And the answers I have come to find bring me to tears when I listen to the chorus-

Those of you who sit in exactly that place (of thinking this is what your life will amount to) – there is hope for you.

You are NOT your father, or his father, or his father…

You were created for something far different than what history tells you your destiny is.

The generations that come after you do not have to wrestle with the same addictions and lies and scheming that have bound your family for generations before you.

But you have a choice to make-

To let God break off the crap and give you freedom, to abandon the relationship that has flourished with the aches and pains of the past…

Or to continue to live in the muck and the mud, with no hope of ever getting out of it.

It’s your choice, but be encouraged.

God is saying, “…you’re my child. You’re my chosen. You are loved… and I will restore all that was broken.“

He’s saying, “…[J]ust like the seasons change, winter into spring, you’re bringing new life to your family tree now.“

YOU.

The person sitting in front of your computer screen reading this, and not the abstract idea of someone who could be reading this right now.

The one God is whispering to right now.

Listen to Him tell you what your destiny really is.

And believe Him when He says it.