I found this treasure the other day. I remember my oldest granddaughter Josie, filling it out. She was ten, and sitting so properly next to me at church. She grabbed the pen from the back of the seat in front of her, crossed her legs, and balanced the card on her knee.

I thought she was drawing. I had no idea how serious she was.

At the time, Tim and I were going through a rough patch in our marriage. Tim had moved out and we were, yet again, trying to work on putting our marriage back together.

When I pulled this from the bottom of a box, my first response was to laugh.

I love the way Josie took charge and adjusted the form to meet her needs. How she scribbled out the first age bracket to put in hers. Then she scribbled out all the categories under, Contact Me, except for the kid’s ministry. And I laughed out loud at her childcare needs. She clearly felt her, little by two years, sister Jules, needed to be in the nursery at age 8.

But when I got to the Comments and Prayer Request section, I was reminded of a harsh reality. Our children and grandchildren are dramatically affected by our choices.

And our families are their world. And to shatter that place of security rocks them to their core.

I’m not saying you should never get divorced. And I understand abuse. For the first ten years of my life, I had a front row seat. Which I wrote about here.

But if you feel the need to find yourself. And if that need breaks up your family, I’d ask you to look real hard at this card. And ponder the heart of a ten-year-old little girl. And remember, these aren’t her parents here. It’s her grandparents. And her feelings are crystal clear. Us staying together really mattered.

Tim was a great papa. And it wasn’t unreasonable for him to drive forty-five minutes just to kiss his grandbabies goodnight. And they adored him in return.

Family is the most important thing we’ll ever do. And the decisions we make, run through each member’s soul. It is that thick, and that deep.

We must get back to valuing our family as a whole. It’s what holds this nation together. And as a senior member of my family, I’m taking a stand for marriage. I want my children and grandchildren to know how I feel. It’s really simple – Be kind to one another. And – Stay. Married.

And if you do, your latter years will be filled with a joy you can’t contain. And your seed will grow a mighty family tree.