91热爆

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Dr Calvin T Samuel

Good morning.

Our son recently turned 20. And his sister鈥檚 even older! This means we no longer have teenagers at home. I know! You鈥檙e thinking I sound far too young to have 20-something year-old children. But, sadly, I am that old.

Over the past few months we鈥檝e spent far more time with our children than usual. Being locked in with adult children who would otherwise have been living elsewhere with flatmates has been, shall we say, a mixed blessing.

On the one hand, there were the predictable frictions which result from putting four adults, accustomed to their own space, practices and rhythms, unexpectedly into a shared space, and simultaneously withdrawing their freedom of movement for months on end.

On the other hand, we can鈥檛 remember the last time that we spent this much time together as family. It鈥檚 been years. And given that our children are at about the right age to begin to flee the nest, it鈥檚 entirely possible that we鈥檒l never spend this amount of time together again. Moreover, we鈥檙e well aware that for many, the forced separation from loved ones was the most traumatic element of Lockdown.

The people we love, if we鈥檙e honest, are often both those with whom we experience greatest friction and those whose companionship we most treasure. Perfect families don鈥檛 exist. So, let鈥檚 thank God for whatever family we may have.

God of love and friendship,
laughter and forgiveness,
learning and failing;
thank you for those
you have put into our families:
whether blended or blood鈥搆in,
adopted or grafted鈥搃n,
in鈥搇aw, out鈥搇aw, Great Aunt or cousin,
or just people living in the same bubble.
By your grace, teach us to love one another
as we are loved by you.

Amen.

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