Where The Rubber Meets The Road

ALL IN THE FAMILY

There is within us a dream. It is a vision of how life ought to be. Within the dream, our relationships are warm, loving, caring and supportive. Within the dream there is always a sense of possibility and hope. A very important part of our vision of how life ought to be is embodied in the word family.

And yet, how often are we disappointed?

We know how life really is. Relationships are often stretched and sometimes broken. Some folks, including some folks we deeply love, are difficult to live with persons. Love itself is often bittersweet. We often find ourselves yearning for the wholeness we believe is possible.

God shares our yearning.

So what can we do?

We can not change the whole world but we can shape our lives and world around us. It is in this reshaping that our texts would encourage us. They are both hopeful texts.

We can build and rebuild our families everyday. We can bring our faith and our lives together. We can take concepts of faith like love, grace and resurrection and apply them to the places where we live.

We can say to one another and to our children and to our parents and to the persons around us:

"I love you. I will even try to love you without condition. I love you as God made you. This love is not something you can change and it is not conditional on your actions. It is. No matter what happens, I love you. No matter what happens, may we always be able to come back to this reality.

Having said that, how can we each be the person God would have us be? Let us find the life God wants for us together. Amen