A blessing for in-laws in the family business
Ephesians 4:1-3
Marrying into a family business is an experience all its own. The expectations, language, unspoken rules, and assumptions about participation (or not) in both the family and business are often confusing and intimidating. The legal and financial implications can be both mysterious and overwhelming. Frankly, it can feel like the family business is another participant at the wedding altar, a third person in the marriage, bringing more than a little baggage to the journey.
G.K. Chesterton offered this insight about our relationships with in-laws: “Those nearest to our nearest may not happen to be the people who would have been our chief chosen friends, but they must be our friends; or memories are wounded and life made very ugly.”
As you engage with a son or daughter-in-law in your family business, consider this blessing for them.
In joining our family And by extension our family business You brought us both joy and happiness And, if we are honest, also concern and caution. You bring an energy, a force, to our family Opening a window to see a different way of interacting Describing experiences much different than ours Helping us understand the confines of our own family culture. In the context of this family business Which to you can feel like a second spouse You’ve offered patience, love, and grace Forgiving us for sins we’ll never know we committed. We know this overlap of family and business is not easy Our constant discussion of commerce, the details of daily operations This way we communicate: our unwritten rules, our unspoken dialect You are listening, interpreting, trying to translate our family language. As we strive to love one another amidst a business partnership, may God bless and sustain your marriage. We give thanks for your gifts and for your love. May God bless your attempts to communicate your needs, and give us the ability to listen with care. May God give you the courage to confront what we cannot see, and guide us in responding with love. May God provide clarity about important boundaries in our relationship, and grant us the wisdom to respect those limits. May God bless your experience with our family, while offering grace as we foster a good relationship with you.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Prior blessings: A blessing before a meal, for a couple transitioning the family business, for those who do not return to the family business, for one who forgives others, for a long-term key employee, for the next generation’s new business venture, for a family member recovering from addiction, for a sibling partnership, for the end of a family business partnership, for grandparents in the family business, for those experiencing family estrangement, for your estate planning efforts, for a family business gathering, upon the passing of a family business member, for rest, for the next generation’s return, for the senior generation letting go, and for the new year.