As I look out my window of twinkling lights to the house across the street similarly clad, I smile. I remember my good neighbor who would say to me every Christmas,
“The best gift under the tree is the family all wrapped up in each other!”
And you know, he was absolutely right. There is no greater potential for joy in this world than the joy of family love and security. That is why we at United Families dedicate our lives to protecting it! Every week we spend considerable time preparing educational materials about how to protect the family and why we think the home — where a mother and father and children grow together in character as they overcome the natural challenges of life — is worth protecting. Today as my last alert for the year, I wish to share with you a couple experiences that fan the flame for my advocacy involvements.
It has been my privilege on a number of occasions to attend the World Congress of Families. This Congress is held every year and its purpose is to assemble from many ethnic, cultural, and religious communities individuals who wish to affirm that the natural human family is established by the Creator and is essential to the good of society. More than three thousand people come together to defend the family, and to discuss ways to guide public policy and cultural norms, that uphold the vital roles that the family plays in society.
A number of years ago it was held in Warsaw Poland and I was asked to speak on the importance of the mother in the home and her affect on the economy of the nation. I began my speech with the words, “As a mother of 13 children, I understand the importance mothers play in a healthy society.” I hardly got those words out of my mouth when the room broke into a thunderous applause. I was stunned for it lasted several minutes. As I stood there looking into the faces of hundreds people from around the world, it became quickly obvious that they were not clapping for me, they were expressing their love for the family. I could see and feel this great love in their faces. I also recognized that most of them lived in political and economic situations that would never allow them to enjoy the blessings of a large family, but they recognized the value of it just the same. My heart went out to those people and I determined that with every ounce of strength and resource I had, I would do what I could to create a safe environment where families could flourish.
Time doesn’t permit me to tell you the many, many battles for the family we have won since that day of commitment! But, we haven’t won them all nor will we in the coming years. I realized something very important however, a few years ago when UFI was heavily involved in fighting for the Marriage amendment in CA. I was having an interesting conversation with a man who couldn’t understand why I would donate such a large part of my life to protecting the family. He had recently heard San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom say that gay marriage in the U.S. was inevitable. He questioned me: “Why do you fight the inevitable?”
The answer I gave him enlightened us both! I said, “I do not see the battles we are fighting in terms of major political victories. I know that from time to time we will lose protective language in the UN Documents. And I know that an increasing number of states in the U.S. are going to fall prey to activist judges who want to redesign society by legalizing same gender ‘marriage’. But that doesn’t mean that we are losing the war. In my advocacy efforts, if what I say or do softens even one heart towards the benefits and blessings of family life, then I have helped make one home happier—and that is the battle I wish to win. When that individual battle is won, there is created an additional voice to speak in defense of families.”
I hope that in some small way your life is made better though your association with United Families International. I hope that our efforts educate you to the importance of the family and help you feel part of a growing number of people who recognize like you and I that the family IS the greatest potential for joy and happiness in the world today! And, though it is difficult, it IS worth protecting and preserving.
As you are “wrapped up” in your family this Christmas, please think of us with a gift that will help us continue to preserve that critical joy in the world! Thank You and
Merry Christmas,
Carol Soelberg
President, United Families International
