Sunday, October 4, 2015

31 Day Challenge: Family



Family,... Familiar,... Famila...
What is family?  A Latin word meaning those in a household. It is the familiar. We are with family when we surround ourselves with those familiar to us. We seek comfort and solace in the familiar and long for it during times of change and upheaval. Family.
For good, or for ill, we seek the familiar. That is where we are most comfortable. That is where we feel we belong. This is true even when the familiar is unhealthy.  As our life progresses the people and patterns of life around us flow across the bedrock of our souls into the well of our being. The direction, the amount, the speed the water flows all help dictate the path of the trickle and as time goes on the trickles wear away the rock cutting rivulets and beds into the stone. Soon, even when the water changes direction, the past lifestyles and patterns guide the water.  The detrimental lifestyles, the unstable people we are familiar with create canyons in our soul that influence how we relate to the rest of life around us. When the familiar is chaotic, we seek out or create chaos in our lives. When the familiar is destructive and unpredictable we learn to either be destructive ourselves or to get out of the way with minimal damage.  When the familiar is loving and generous we see other loving and generous people and seek to give those things back to the world.
What is family? Family is how we polish the bedrock of our soul so that we glisten and shine in the sun as life splashes over us.

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