There are few topics, issues, venues, or relationships that inherently bring with it more potential for joy on the one hand and heartache on the other, other than marriage and family.
When the busy and demanding world in which we live gets all geared up and on a roll, we can become consumed with the ‘stuff’ of making money, advancing our careers, building a resume, perfecting a hobby, getting in great shape, expanding our influence, protecting our territory, pursuing pleasures and avoiding what is really important. Then in times of crisis or at the end of our lives, we can find ourselves alienated from those who should have been intimately close to us.
Many of the people that are supposed to be vital in our lives are right under our noses and we take them for granted, we make them secondary, we assume they will always be there, we treat them as disposable. Yes, those people are, many times, more challenging than the casual relationships at work or at the gym. Our spouses and our children are more complex than we would prefer. Our parents and our siblings can be more difficult than we think they should be.
However, it is the challenges and the complexities, the struggles and heartaches. that create depth to relationships. They demand that we work hard to understand, to forgive and to compromise. They make us flex and change. They are tools that make us new, better, retooled, refurbished, transformed and refreshed.
Our marriages and our families are a treasure hidden in clay jars that need to be treated with care and thoughtfulness. It takes time and effort, but it worth every minute. You never know when a special moment will blossom in the midst of the thousands of ’normal’ moments of life.
So… as we continue talking about our ‘Family Circus,’ I encourage you to stay in the ‘ring’ and under the tent. Stay engaged and alert. Keep your head on a swivel and your eyes wide open. Be ready to connect with those right under your noses.
Yours,
Kevin