It is sometimes hard to believe that all this time has gone by and we are still going strong, still one in family—but many in spirit. We can take strength in who we have become over the years, and we can draw from that family strength and support from time to time as we need it—to become a better person, to grow and progress. It sometimes amazes me that we are still here for each other, no matter what kinds of things have transpired in our individual lives. Each of us, at some point or other, has been a critical part of why we are all still here.
The strength of the family is everything in life. It shapes who we are as a child, and it determines how we will be as adults. If there is love in the family at all stages of life—no matter how old or young we are, no matter how far apart in miles we may be—there will be unity and strength. There will always be that underlying feeling that we are a part of something special. The unseen bond that tugs at each one of us, and reminds us that we are not living our lives as separately as we think—but together as a unit in today’s multiple and varied societal channels of daily life. No matter what we are doing or when, that bond will always be within each of us, and because of this we have a responsibility to share our strength with each other when called upon.
Together as a family, we have built up a unified “bank” for each of us to draw upon when necessary. We have each invested into this bank whether we intended to, or not. Each of us has contributed in some form or other, and each of us has drawn from it at some time or another. From it we can glean strength when necessary, courage, compassion, kindness, and love. Strength is defined as a source of power or encouragement; sustenance. Each of us as a family member, is a source of power and encouragement for each other. Sustenance, or the form of sustaining, is to support, hold, or bear up from below, to bear the weight, to endure without giving way or yielding, and/or to supply with temporal things as deemed necessary. It is also to support by aid or approval.
In a nutshell, this is a family. This is what we do for each other, and in turn, we create more available resources that can be drawn from our family bank when needed.
With another new year upon us, I hope we will each examine ourselves as a family member. Are we bearing the weight for another? Are we supporting aid or lending approval in the form of a listening ear, a hug, or a pat on the back? When was the last time we called someone in our family to tell them we were just thinking of them, or wondering how they were doing? Let’s not allow more time to go by while we wait for the perfect opportunity, because the perfect opportunity is a myth, it does not exist.
Imagine this: if time is too precious to lose, how precious is family? Family is where it’s at, and when it comes down to it, family is all we’ve got.
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