To know and to be known is the greatest gift a family can allow. To be a family means we allow each other in and we, being let in, know the fragile treasure of the gift, and act accordingly. This is a gift parents give their children and in turn their children give it to their spouse and their children. The reason for this is the freedom to be oneself. You must be yourself to be known. But our hearts always condemn us, “You will not be cared for if they know who you are.” This is the parents’ great job, to relieve each other and their children of this burden. This was not the reason we took our children camping but it was a result we noticed quickly. Culture and school place a tremendous burden on children to conform to an image that is acceptable. Children become somewhat hardened by this. However, after a few days of camping and hiking as a family, they quickly soften and return to their true nature, goofy! The joy of this is we are all goofy, every human is basically goofy. We stumble, falter, trip, make mistakes, and blunder in ways only humans can. When an infant falls they get up and smile like they did something silly. If they are scolded, overly attended to, or ignored they become trapped in their miss-step. However, if they are smiled at or even loving laughed at they quickly learn everyone falls now and again, mom and dad do, siblings do and they do. It is kindness.
In my 65 years, I have known only one way this can happen; it is modeled to us by God. One of my favorite truths which so comforts me, “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.” Great advice, for humans, parents, children and future humans who will be allowed into our great “circle unbroken”.
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