Reflections on extended family: inspired by UKAMA Sunday and the Shona word for interconnectedness.
The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. – Richard Bach
Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones that would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what. — anonymous
Shona concept of Ukama (Zimbabwe). This is the name of the partnership between faith communities in NH and Zimbabwe. Jackson Community Church is partnered with the Chikanga Church in the city of Mutare, Zimbabwe. Excerpt “… life is an interconnected whole, the ultimate wellbeing of the individual can hardly be disentangled from the well-being of others. It is through kinship or relatedness that the individual’s actions affect others positively or negatively at present as well as in the future.”
Questions to consider:
- What is your image of God? Often our primal understanding of love and power is shaped by our earliest primary family relationships. How is your understanding of God like the people of your family of origin or adoption?
- Who are the people you have ‘chosen’ as your extended family? What bonds tie you together?
Poem — Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. – Jane Howard
You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. – Desmond Tutu
To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. – Barbara Bush
Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter. – Brad Henry
The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to. – Dodie Smith
When you grow up in an extended family, or in a stable neighborhood with two or three generations of families who live there, you feel seen. Not just the good things you’ve done, the stuff you put on your resume. You know they’ve seen you in your dark times, when you’ve messed up – but they’re still there. — Dean Ornish
This is my family. I found it all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah. Still good. – Stitch (Disney character)
Blended families: woven together by choice, strengthened together by love, tested by everything, and each uniquely ours. — anonymous
The creation of a more peaceful and happier society has to begin from the level of the individual, and from there it can expand to one’s family, to one’s neighborhood, to one’s community and so on. — Dalai Lama
Obviously, you would give your life for your children, or give them the last biscuit on the plate. But to me, the trick in life is to take that sense of generosity between kin, make it apply to the extended family and to your neighbour, your village and beyond. — Tom Stoppard
Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth… This is the real message of love. ― Thich Nhat Hanh
A child is fortunate who feels witnessed as a person, outside relationships with parents, by another adult. ― Louise Erdrich
Global health issues remind us – perhaps more than any other issue – that we are all children of the same extended family. — Kathleen Sebelius
You inherited a piece of everyone in your family. Insult them, insult yourself … Family makes you who you are and aren’t. – Marcelina Hardy
The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. – Kendall Hailey
He that raises a large family stands a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too. – Benjamin Franklin
A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living. – Charles Swindon
To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others. – Pope John Paul II
We must take care of our families wherever we find them. – Elizabeth Gilbert
When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching — they are your family. – Jim Butcher
It didn’t matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it. – Peter Buffett
| Holy Thoughts on Families Formed by Love and Choice God resorts to working through us for others and upon us through others. Those are some weirdly restorative, disconcerting shenanigans to be caught up in: God forcing God’s people to see themselves as God sees them, to do stuff they know they are incapable of doing, so that God might make use of them, and make them to be both humble recipients and generous givers of grace, so that they may be part of God’s big project on earth, so that they themselves might find unexpected joy through surprising situations. — Nadia Bolz-Weber When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change. ― Thich Nhat Hanh |
Reflection on Advent 3: Joy
Joy is the serious business of Heaven. — C. S. Lewis
Song: Joy to the World by Pentatonix
Song: Joy by Jonny Diaz
Song: Joy by For King & Country
Song: Joy Joy Joy Down In My Heart by Little Richard
House of Joy — Rumi
If you knew yourself for even one moment,
if you could just glimpse
your most beautiful face,
maybe you wouldn’t slumber so deeply
in that house of clay.
Why not move into your house of joy
and shine into every crevice!
For you are the secret
Treasure-bearer, and always have been.
Didn’t you know?
3 Ways to Access Joy (excerpt) — Margarita Tartakovsky, Psychology Today
Being in a state of joy isn’t something you’re born with. It’s a learned skill …
- Revise your inner language: How we talk to ourselves can influence our mood and outlook on life. For instance, “shoulds” can easily sap our joy. If you’re constantly telling yourself all the different things you should be doing, you’re likely residing in a negative or unsatisfied space. … To stop “shoulding” all over yourself, first assess the situation. … replacing “should” with “could.” This seemingly small change is actually very powerful because “it’s all about choice.” It promotes self-kindness, flexibility and forgiveness. It promotes exploration rather than rigidity.
- Seek out laughter … make laughter part of your day, Altman suggests the following: Set an intention to have at least one laughter memory a day. He defines this as “any humorous event, thought or observation that stimulates positive mood states that are joyful, uplifting, heartwarming, energizing or euphoric.” Use a journal to jot down your laughter memories. Read it at the end of every week …
- Focusing your attention on your natural surroundings can instantly help you access joy.
Joy Vs Happiness (excerpt) — Sandra Brown, Psychology Today
Happiness is … dependent on outside situations, people, or events to
align with your expectations so that the end result is your happiness
… But happiness is not joy because joy is not external, it can’t be
bought and it is not conditional on someone else’s behavior. In fact,
joy is not contingent on anything in order to exist … When stuff,
people, and the problems they bring fall away there is a stillness. Only
in that stillness can we ever find the joy that resides inside of us,
dependent on nothing external in order to exist. During this holiday
season, this is a great concept to contemplate
… Joy comes when you make peace with who you are, where you are, why
you are, and who you are not with. When you need nothing more than your
truth and the love of a good God to bring peace, then you have settled
into the abiding joy that is not rocked by relationships. It’s not
rocked by anything.
Ordinary Joy (excerpt) — Alison Bonds Shapiro, Psychology Today
… How do we cultivate joy? Do we work very hard and compete at the greatest intensity that we can manage to win the grand prize? Will that bring us joy? We think that joy comes if we win the lottery or are chosen for a great honor. We think we have to wait to be famous to have joy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Great honors may bring us excitement, satisfaction and sometimes even happiness for a while. But joy comes from somewhere else. Joy arises in the ordinary moments of our lives. That’s where we experience joy and that is where we can cultivate it.
We can cultivate that joy by welcoming the small things. We can find the joy that lives and waits for us in our ordinary actions. When we slow down and allow our bodies to find some sense of ease and pay attention to each dish, we invite joy. We are not in the running for a grand prize and national recognition for our amazing capacity to wash forks. We are just washing this one fork.
When we do this we see, maybe for the first time in a long time, like a child might see, with wonder and delight …
Joy: Rooted in Gratitude and Other Perspectives
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life,
for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. — Tecumseh
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and
hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing
horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. — Christopher McCandless
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine
jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. — William Arthur Ward
I believe that a trusting attitude and a patient attitude go hand in
hand. You see, when you let go and learn to trust God, it releases joy
in your life. And when you trust God, you’re able to be more patient.
Patience is not just about waiting for something… it’s about how you
wait, or your attitude while waiting. — Joyce Meyer
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. — Leo Buscaglia
The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. — Richard Bach
Joy: State of Mind & Heart
Joy, feeling one’s own value, being appreciated and loved by others,
feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous
value for the human soul. — Maria Montessori
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass
springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things
of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is
alive. — Eleonora Duse
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. — Buddha
Joy: Arising Amidst Challenge
The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of
rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour
would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to
traverse. — Helen Keller
When you’re in the day-to-day grind, it just seems like it’s another
step along the way. But I find joy in the actual process, the journey,
the work. It’s not the end. It’s not the end event. — Cal Ripken, Jr.
I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by
making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My
inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the
fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with
uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few. — Brene Brown
Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or
feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s
surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new
place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and
celebrate more fully our shared humanity. — Henri Nouwen
Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your
house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow
leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can
grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots
hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your
heart, far better things will take their place.— Rumi
For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair. — Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. — Joseph Campbell
I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with
failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write
about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost
lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption.
I write about gratitude because I am thankful – for all of it. — Kristin Armstrong
Joy: Sharing & Serving Others
Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment. — Tony Robbins
If you are a chef, no matter how good a chef you are, it’s not good
cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others – it’s the same
with music. — will.i.am
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the
served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness
before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy. — Mahatma Gandhi
My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The
light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil’s mind, and
behold, all things are changed! — Anne Sullivan
Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a
good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give. — Eleanor Roosevelt
Joy (excerpt) — Carl Sandburg
Let a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by …
Joy— Maurine Smith
Joy, joy, run over me
Like water over a shining stone;
And I beneath your sweet shall be
No longer hungry and alone.
The light at my heart’s gate is lit —
My love, my love is tending it!
Prayer for Joy
— Stuart Kestenbaum
What was it we wanted
to say anyhow, like today
when there were all the letters
in my alphabet soup and suddenly
the ‘j’ rises to the surface.
The ‘j’, a letter that might be
great for Scrabble, but not really
used for much else, unless
we need to jump for joy,
and then all of a sudden
it’s there and ready to
help us soar and to open up
our hearts at the same time,
this simple line with a curved bottom,
an upside down cane that helps
us walk in a new way into this
forest of language, where all the letters
are beginning to speak,
finding each other in just
the right combination
to be understood.