"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts".

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. ” - C.S. Lewis

I stumbled upon this quote earlier this week and thought it went perfectly with what we discussed in class. I think this quote by C.S. Lewis goes hand in hand with another quote that was said by Aristotle: "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

Both these quotes go hand in hand with the family systems theory. This theory states that every member of a family is connected. When something happens to one person, it affects the whole family. I like to think of it as a domino effect. When one domino falls it affects the other dominoes. Each of us in a family (blood related or not) has an affect on others. Our actions determine consequences that can not just affect us. I've noticed within my own family, when one person is struggling, it affects all of us. We all try to jump in and do what we can to help out that one person that needs it. 

I know that most of you, those that are family friends, know what happened over a year ago in our family. For those of you who don't and would like to know more about the accident that happened you can read about it in the my story tab on the blog.

I bring up the accident because I think, in a way, it is a perfect example of how the family systems theory works. My immediate family dynamic was/is shook up. In a way this caused a ripple effect to everyone around us and my extend family. When our family is struggling, when I am struggling, my family and friends are there to help and life me up. In a sense, when my immediate family was "breaking" everyone else was affected by it in one way or another so they stepped up and have since helped us, along with the gospel of course, put ourselves "back together". So in essence, I do believe that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

I am amazed that Heavenly Father knew that we would need people (family and friends) near our sides through out our whole life, to be there through thick and thin. Whether we know it or not, we all have certain roles we play in each others lives, whether we are family or not.