Not Family

But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." Luke 1:61

Bad reputation. Dysfunctional. Society's zero. Clan of drunkards. School junkies. Jail's permanent visitors. Drug addicts. Neighborhood's menace. Weaklings. Push overs. Surplus shop. With debt until death. Broken. Broke.

Do these words ring a bell in your family? These are familiar tags for families who can't make a day without being stared upon by passers by. Signature of lineage of families who have not broke away from what their roots were. If the grandfather was, the father is, the son will be. The newborn girl has the same footprints as the mother who took the shoes of the grandmother.

Can you break the family's tradition?

Zechariah did. He named his son John. No one among his relatives has that name. Nada. If you look into their family tree, you won't see a hanging fruit named John. The roots have not bore that fruit before. The branches were not familiar with that fruit. For in the history of that tree, no one has that ID. Yet, the father wrote on a tablet, "His name is John.", for this was God's direction. This is where action is louder than words. Zechariah followed God's will and broke the family's tradition.

We can, too. If we follow God's direction in our lives. If we step on Jesus' footprints. If we run after the heart of God with passion. If we stay on course with the Captain of the ship. Even at sometimes, the family's voice will deaf our one voice. Even at sometimes, the family's culture mutes our desire to be holy. After all, action is better heard than intonation. As long as we can be faithful to God, by His grace, we can break that domino effect of failure in our blood.

Expect this, in God's time, there would be a fruit hanging on the tree who's not family.