It is the season of Christmas and I sit here awaiting the sunrise and time for feeding the animals on the Funny Farm. I sip my coffee planning the coming days and weeks, and puzzle over families separated and acting childish because their egos are too big and the expectations too high.
As I sit here and ponder the separations in our communities I come to remember being able to ask dad for his insight or grandpa about the logic of it all. Yet they are gone, and I’m left here to be the one to contemplate.
Since at least three years of age, I can remember experiencing the loss of a family member. Believe it or not, I recall attending my great-grandfather’s funeral. I also remember looking up to him before that and admiring his horn-rimmed glasses and his eyes that glimmered behind them. I also remember his plants and his garden and his satisfaction in raising fresh fruits and the like.
I remember my great-grandmother who experienced the loss of my grandmother and my great-uncle (her children) before her time came to go. I know her heart ached, and mine did too — and when she left it ached again.
My god-mother and god-father, great uncles, cousins, — and my brother, my grandpa, and my dad — they’ve all left this place we know. I remember all of them as being giving, caring, hard workers, who feared the Lord and embraced their family. What I’ve seen after is a lot of selfishness, ego, and expectations that overpower the great goodness of having a loving family. I see families torn apart, shunning one another, complaining about one another.
Do they not know how blessed they are to have one another, if even for a short time?
During this holiday season, and every day, remember to check your ego; check your expectations and embrace who you have for the time they are here. Before you know it things will change and you’ll never be able to get that time back.
Will your memories be of digging in your heals to prove that someone in your life is wrong — because you think you’re right? — Or is that how others will remember you?
1 Thessalonians 5:15 Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.
What a great column Mia.
So much truth.