Did you know, “Over 65% of Americans are now a stepparent, a stepchild, a stepsibling, step-grandparent, or touched directly by a stepfamily scenario?” Since so many families are blended, why is there so little written specifically for blended family homes? The lack of blended family resources is exactly why we compiled this list of Inspirational blended family quotes.
As you will see, none of these quotes are directly written to blended families. But they should be, as each one is especially applicable. Each quote is followed by a brief commentary highlighting its significance to blended families.
Inspiring Blended Family Quotes
As a blended family, we know that a bonus family comes with bonus blessings and bonus challenges. This is why we compiled this list of inspiring blended family quotes. So grab a cup of coffee, tea, or another favorite beverage and dive in!
1. A Quote for Releasing Blended Family Guilt
Guilt is a common thread in blended families. Because every family is unique, guilt comes in many forms.
- Some family members carry the guilt of divorce and of the chaos leading to the divorce.
- Stepparents carry the baggage of entering into another parent’s role.
- Adoptive parents feel guilty for taking time and resources away from their biological children to provide for their new, blended family.
More examples of toxic guilt could be added to this list. Yet, each example of stinking thinking stems from the same idea—Life is not as it should be.
Although blended families may not be God’s ideal, they are good, and I’m a firm believer that God loves blended family homes. I am incredibly grateful for my wife, Jenny. She gave up an opportunity for a less chaotic life, to blend with my two girls and me. Sometimes, when Jenny is in an especially feisty mood, she will look at her stepdaughters and say, “You know I had to marry your daddy because I fell in love with you two.” I adore the way Jenny loves and affirms all of our girls. She knows how to make the family skeletons dance.
Let’s take a deeper look at how this happens.
Blended Family Guilt and Redemption
Christ’s followers can lay aside guilt and embrace their blended family because God is in the redemption business. The book of Genesis tells Joseph’s story. The narrative begins with Joesph, a boy from a blended family, sold into slavery by his half-brothers. Through a series of God-ordained events, Joseph becomes the second in command of all of Egypt. Then, one glorious day, Joseph finds his half-brothers kneeling before him. They were weak, cowering, and powerless. Although Joseph had the perfect opportunity for revenge, he chose to forgive instead. Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 5:20).
God can take life’s messes and turn them into a masterpiece. God did this in Joseph’s life, and God will work mightily in our blended family if we let Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11 eloquently states, “God makes all things beautiful in His time.” Having a blended family provided the opportunity to model God’s redemptive power. I am exceedingly grateful for my amazing (sometimes messy and always wonderful) God-given, blended family home!
2. A Blended Family Happiness Quote:
This statement is as relevant to blended families as it is to traditional families. Psalm 127:3-5 says, “Children are a heritage from the Lord… Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”
I will always remember the family vacation where my daughter Brooklyn blurted out, “I love bananas. To me, they taste just like peanut butter.” Upon hearing this, Jenny and I burst into laughter. The randomness of her statement brought us sheer joy. Because of my girls, I rode the rollercoasters at the Mall of America this year. My children were the motivation for tubing down a tiny Minnesota river. They are the reason I continue to squeeze into tiny fast-food play structures at the age of thirty-six. The greatest happiness truly is family happiness!
3. A Quote for Blended Families on Virtues
Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds what is good.” I love how invested Jenny is in the lives of all of our children. Jenny and I team up to get our family to church and to help them develop strong character. Blending has made our family stronger. Without a doubt, the family unit and blended family unit is the best place for instilling lasting values in the future generation. Although there is little written about blended families, these families matter.
Christians can get caught up in dwelling on what might have been. Yet, living in a land of dreams is not helpful. Life is better when we embrace what is and enjoy our fun, messy, funny, chaotic, and beautiful blended families. A blended family is a gift from God. The best thing that you and I can do is to lay aside guilt, embrace what is, and enjoy our God-given, blended families to the fullest!
Diving Deeper into the Blended Family Conversation
Let’s keep the conversation going. Here are some blended family questions for reflection and discussion.
- Which blended family quote resonated with you the most, and why?
- Are there new blended family insights you gleaned from this post?
- What inspiring blended family quotes would you add to this list?
Jenny and I would love to hear from you. So be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
We look forward to partnering with you in this exciting process of leading our amazing, God-given, blended family homes!
Sincerely, Jed and Jenny
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Jen and I are thrilled you stopped by! Kind words and coffee fuel this blog. If you enjoyed these blended family quotes, help us keep the great content coming. Please tell us what inspirational sayings for blended families you would add to this list. Or use the buy us a coffee button to help fund our next project. To dive even deeper, you can also check out our books and resources for couples (we even wrote a book, especially for stepfamilies). Jen and I are passionate about helping couples create happy marriages. Know we honestly couldn’t do this without amazing readers like you!
My parents divorced after I was out of the home, but my mother has remarried. And each of my three siblings is a blended family. So, while I myself am not from a blended family in the strictest sense, I do have up-close-and-personal experience with them. A few thoughts and quotes come to mind here.
Brooklyn’s exclamation – “I love bananas. To me they taste just like peanut butter” – seems to me to unintentionally reflect upon blended families. To the rest of the world looking on, a blended family is just like a traditional family (in the same way that the bananas Brooklyn sees and enjoys are the same bananas everyone else eats). But, to her, a banana tastes like peanut butter; it’s something else, but it’s still something good – just as her family is now something else, yet still something good.
In my own book, I include two pieces of advice passed along to me by my best friend’s mom, Carlotta. Carlotta, who was also my friend, left these pieces of advice scrawled on a piece of paper in her bedside table, having written them during the worst of her cancer before she passed away. These two (and one other) were what she felt were the most important things for her own adult children to remember, among all of the wisdom she passed on.
“You have to start from where you are, not from where you wish you were.”
“Life is not fair. The sooner you accept this, the happier you will be.”
Another great post, Jed. I hope many people who especially need it will read it.
I love those quotes, and what a great message that Carlotta passed on to her kids. Thanks for sharing these.
And you are so right. Being in a blended family is much different than I thought it would be. In fact, it isn’t where I expected to end up at all. But–like peanut butter–it’s very, very, good! And I wouldn’t trade it for anything! #blended #happy and incredibly #blessed 🙂
Jed,
Two that have really impacted me in my thinking. One is something I reminded myself after my divorce.
“As you open up to God you’ll find He’ll meet you right where you are even if right where you are is a bad place. – Neil Vermillion You can follow him on twitter at @neilvermillion.
The other is the one I think of often today.
“Marriage is a mosaic you build with your spouse. Millions of tiny moments that create your love.”
First seen this on fierce marriage.com . They gave attribution to unveiledwife.com.
Even though the second refers to building a marriage I think it has its place in blended families. We are the mosaic of marriage. Bringing the our best and worst experiences into a Union. Trying to create a better life out of chaos, trying to make sense and order of things. Many times like you said that step-parent coming in creates calm and order. Stability and can be the missing piece in the mosaic that ends up a beautiful piece of art that God created.
Thanks for sharing these Kirby. I love the picture of marriage being a mosaic. For blended families it’s not only a mosaic of “millions of tiny moments that create love,” but also a mosaic of family members, unique life-experiences, and perspectives. The mosaic image is a beautiful way to describe our blended families. I had never thought of this before.
And a great quote from Neil too. I’ve followed him for a while and always appreciate how positive and uplifting he is. I also found those with words of encouragement and hope to be incredibly helpful after the divorce. Thanks again for adding these two, great quotes to the conversation. These are awesome!