They’re not the Waltons but They Make Me Smile Or How Some Crazy Duck-calling Family Won my Heart

Happy, happy, happy gets my attention as that is what my main dream is for my own family. To be happy, happy, happy.

Then the title “A Dynasty Built on Family and Faith” also got my attention and I figured I needed to find out how the Duck Dynasty family got so happy. It is a story in Guideposts magazine written by Korie Robertson about their life.

Along the way to a happy, happy, happy family I have taken a long detour. Maybe you have, also. What got in the way of your happy family? What came in and took your dreams. What stole the heart of your children and perhaps even your grandchildren?

Did addiction rear its ugly head and everything that you thought your adult child would become just seem to vanish one day? Did you lose a loved one, a spouse or a child and think you will never be happy again. Does someone in your family wrestle with mental illness and you wonder if all hope is gone? Did cancer invade the body of someone you love? Do you have a loved one in prison?   Life can seem anything but happy at times like these.

What can you do to get your mind into a mode of happiness again?

My first and best answer would be to find a word of hope to hold on to from the Bible. You know the kind, a scripture that just jumps out at you; instinctly deep within your heart it seems as if it was written just for you. Written for such a time as this. While you are searching for a word of your own, find one for your children or that adult child that is breaking your heart. We have to know and believe that the God who created them has a plan and it is an even better plan than you, as a parent, could even dream for them.

“O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
 All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
And great shall be the peace of your children.” Isaiah 54:11-13

My next thought for happy, happy, happy,  is give it over to prayer. Perhaps you are saying, I do that, I pray. We all have had to come to the point of not only praying but then letting go. Let go and let God is more than a slogan said at recovery meetings. It is the real deal. As a mother, though, I have to admit, I sometimes have to let go again and again, but that is OK as the Lord looks at the heart. He knows exactly the timing that we can yield that burden to Him. He is a protective God and He knows what we can deal with and when and He won’t push us or shove us to dealing with something when it is too painful for us. He deals the same way with our families.

I’ve found that what might make me happy, happy, happy will have the opposite effect on my husband or children. Sometimes I want to scream, “Let’s just all get on the same page.” But the story written from one person’s viewpoint will have a different slant and timetable in another family member’s life and so I must yield again.

What does all this have to do with the Robertson family and their Duck Dynasty? Take a comedy break as often as you can and watch their programs and reruns. It will do your heart good to see people interacting in a loving and kind way. The way families used to interact. No they aren’t the Walton’s, they don’t live in Mayberry, but they have something to teach us. 

The main lesson is God first, and then family. In my view that is a winning combination. No, my family isn’t the Walton’s, the Griffith’s or the Robertson’s but I can learn to lighten up, smile more, listen more and embrace the unique family that the Lord is building, one day at a time. My favorite quote that I say is “There is enough love to go around.” Our family is a work in progress but one day I know I will be “Happy, happy, happy” just like the Duck Dynasty family.

http://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/inspirational-stories/a-dynasty-built-on-family-and-faith?page=full