What’s your family like?
Families can be a strange bunch. You don’t get to pick them, and they are usually there for life. But if you’ve been fortunate like me, you have had more connection than absence, more harmony than conflict, and more good memories than bad ones.
I know that isn’t the case for many.
I’ve heard stories of sisters who haven’t spoken in years or of words spoken in the heat of the moment that have resulted in a life-long estrangement between a father and son. And only when the last breath was taken was there forgiveness and peace between the two.
So often the silent cries of a sibling, parent, or teen go unnoticed because of the need to be right instead of kind. Or the drift of time separates conversations and the needs of the other go unnoticed.
But it’s at those very times that we need to put aside petty squabbles and extend the hand of helpfulness. For as this post’s opening quote reminds us, when you help another, you help yourself. I call it healing through helping.