The holiday season brings with it a good probability that extended families will come together to celebrate. Immediately after the prayer has been offered for God's blessing on the food and the celebration, an interesting opportunity will present itself. The opportunity will be for families to reconnect in deeper fashion or in new ways altogether. This opportunity will be most pronounced between the various generations present.
How can aunts and uncles connect more deeply with their nieces and nephews? How can grandparents enter the conversation with their grandchildren? How can we keep our children from being bored or worse, feeling left out? As adults we need to take the lead in these moments. Affirmation and sincere interest are the key perspectives to be applied to the conversation. As people, we love to talk about ourselves and what is important to us. With that in mind, it is very easy to connect with each other by simply asking positive and open ended questions and thereby giving the other person the opportunity to respond. Questions like "So, what exciting things have you been up to lately?" or "What are you finding most enjoyable these days?" Even questions like "What's been going on recently?" can open the door to a revelation of the person's life. Follow up with added questions as the opportunity arises. In so doing, family members feel affirmed, cared for and loved because we have cared enough to connect. Evangelism begins in our own families as we share the love of Christ around the dinner table as He often did as well. May God bless each of our gatherings for His glory and our joy.