Monday Morning Coffee | December 14, 2009

ARE YOU RELATED?

In the long distant past, all generations of a family lived in the sametown, if not just across the road or down the lane. Each member of thefamily knew all the good - and the bad - about every other member (aswell as all the neighbors). They worked together, played, and prayedtogether.

Today,families are scattered throughout the country. What we callrelationships now are often only acquaintances introduced throughbusiness situations or chance meetings. They may be casual and basedonly on a single shared interest, i.e. golf, fitness, children's schoolactivities, etc. These relationships may lack depth and rarely gobeyond that single shared interest.

Even with family relations more scattered and unavailable to us on aday-to-day basis, our human side still has a need and desire for deeperrelationships. The good news is that they are not only possible butalso available to us with just a little effort.

A singlecommon interest through school-aged children may result in having lunchtogether. The lunch may reveal that both individuals appreciate thearts, with one being an amateur photographer and the other a proficientwatercolor artist. Further conversation may find that both are caringfor aging parents, have endured similar life challenges, or witnessedbrilliant successes.

In short,deep relationships, akin to those shared by families in the past, arestill possible. Yes, they must be cultivated. They don't just passivelyoccur as in the daily activities of a family. The result is the same,however, as these relationships can provide a richness to life that ismissing in their absence. Try to find some missing relations today!