Since our marriage enlarged our family from four to eight,
it keeps us doubly happy. Parenting changes over the years, and yet some
things about parenting never change. As
grandchildren mature, their parents’ lives change as well. At times, we don’t perhaps see as much of our
children as we would like, but there is satisfaction seeing them busy with
their own families. Occasionally without
planning it that way, we see many of them over the space of a few days. That’s the way it has been for us in the past
week.
We have a grandson and his wife almost ready to leave for an
adventure in India and Nepal. Another is
planning to leave for medical training in Australia and still another off to
North Bay to begin post-secondary training. Two more grandsons leave for third
and fourth year in university and a grand-daughter just got her first job after
finishing her training and one just starting high. We share deeply quite often
with another grand-daughter who is growing by leaps and bounds in her
understanding of herself and in her relationship with God.
In the past week we had repeated connection when a few of
our children experienced crisis in their lives. We had several stop in
unexpectedly for brief visits, Monday my three daughters and I spent the day
together and today I had a delightful lunch with another grand-daughter. Each
one of our family brings their own special kind of joy to us. Those connections and family ties bring us
much joy and sense of completeness. How
fortunate to have such ties—none of them broken—in a day and age when that
happens so frequently. As I reflect on
the way our lives have touched so many of our family this past week, my heart
swells with thankfulness and joy.
The older I get, the more I understand my heavenly Father’s
love and care. No wonder he planned for
us to live in families. And I give
thanks.
There were families also in my books, Not Easily Broken and Not Far from the Tree. They too learned and grew in their relationships through difficulties and joyous times. Let me know if you'd like to read about them.
1 comment:
Ruth, your warm, mothering heart finds gentle expression in your reflections. Even from my perspective as a male, I identify well with what you share.
Post a Comment