Reflection: The Parable Of The Human Family
“A family is a web so delicately woven that it takes almost nothing to set the whole thing shuddering or even to tear it to pieces. Yet the thread it’s woven of is as strong as anything on earth.” (Frederick Buechner)
Whether a family remains intact over decades or is torn apart in one short moment, the memories never fade. Haunting, wistful, sorrowful and precious, they remain within us, colouring the rest of the days we live in. A young couple walking up the street, shopping in one bag, seen for a second or two out of my car’s side window. And I’m thrown back to when we were so! Precious and wistful. The anniversary of a parent’s death, the passing birthday of an estranged loved one, tug at the strings of sorrow in the heart
We get on with living, sometimes burying deeply the broken threads of our human family. But sometimes we are reminded of the parent, sandals and clothes flapping in the wind, running down the dusty road, tears of joy streaming down the face, arms wide open in a welcome home to the one who was lost, who holds the broken threads in their hands.
Lenten blessings
Rev Ceri