Kinship

A niece, her husband, and their 6-month-old daughter visited us for the Labor Day weekend.  The angelic baby instantly captured our hearts, a tiny magnet of a person able to speak volumes without a single word.  It felt as if she innately knew she belonged.  We were hers, and she was ours.

While the boat-faring, fish-slaying men threw their lures in the lake for hours on end, we landlubber women-folk stayed ashore and played with the baby.  And talked. For hours.  On end.  About ordinary things, and things that mattered.  It was good.

In the context of their visit, I remembered something: association with others often calls us out of ourselves to challenge, enable, and support whatever is partial and incomplete within ourselves.  Conversely, loneliness, disconnection, and isolation only cripple and imprison.

Many of my personal hurdles over the years have mushroomed into Goliath giants when I felt abandoned to jump them alone - to capably scale the cliffs solo (which I usually did).  This weekend I remembered how I’ve also been empowered with near-Olympian endurance and strength when others believed in me, even if they didn’t share the actual nuts and bolts of the specific situation.  This has been especially effective when they shared a foundation of common commitment and faith.

Honestly, I crave times of solitude in this phase of my life – every day.  They are therapeutic, and balance other times of involvement and output.  But I also know a too  much isolation can be stifling.  I need others.  And they need me. Life is about relationship.

Thank you, bright-eyed baby girl and parents, for sharing your lives for a couple of days, and shining your own unique lights in the midst of everyday life.  You reminded me that we fit together, pieces, of a larger, eternal Plan - that connection is a precious thing - that no man is an island, entire of himself.* 

*credits to John Donne